THE WAPITI, 181 



spun round and jumped at his old adversary, 

 seeking to stab him in his unprotected flank ; 

 but the latter was just as quick, and as before 

 caught the rush on his horns. They closed 

 as furiously as ever ; but the utmost either 

 could do was to inflict one or two punches on 

 the neck and shoulders of his foe, where the 

 thick hide served as a shield. Again the 

 peace-maker approached, nodding his head, 

 whistling, and threatening; and again they 

 separated. 



This was repeated once or twice ; and I 

 began to be afraid lest the breeze which was 

 very light and puffy should shift and give 

 them my wind. So, resting my rifle on my 

 knee I fired twice, putting one bullet behind 

 the shoulder of the peace-maker, and the 

 other behind the shoulder of one of the com- 

 batants. Both were deadly shots, but, as so 

 often with wapiti, neither of the wounded 

 animals at the moment showed any signs of 

 being hit. The yearling ran off unscathed. 

 The other three crowded together and trotted 

 behind some spruce on the left, while we ran 

 forward for another shot. In a moment one 

 fell ; whereupon the remaining two turned 

 and came back across the glade, trotting to 

 the right. As we opened fire they broke into 

 a lumbering gallop, but were both downed 

 before they got out of sight in the timber. 



As soon as the three bulls were down we 

 busied ourselves taking off their heads and 

 hides, and cutting off the best portions of the 

 meat from the saddles and hams to take 

 back to camp, where we smoked it. But first 

 we had breakfast. We kindled a fire beside 



