AN ELK-HUNT AT TWO-OCEAN PASS. 215 



the rents in their rough flanks, and lay deep 

 between the towering pinnacles of dark rock. 



That night, as on more than one night 

 afterward, a bull elk came down whistling to 

 within two or three hundred yards of the tents, 

 and tried to join the horse herd. The moon 

 had set, so I could not go after it. Elk are 

 very restless and active throughout the night 

 in the rutting season ; but where undisturbed 

 they feed freely in the daytime, resting for 

 two or three hours about noon. 



Next day, which was rainy, we spent in 

 getting in the antlers and meat of the two 

 dead elk ; and I shot off the heads of two or 

 three blue grouse on the way home. The 

 following day I killed another bull elk, follow- 

 ing him by the strong, not unpleasing, smell, 

 and hitting him twice as he ran, at about 

 eighty yards. So far I had had good luck, 

 killing everything I had shot at ; but now the 

 luck changed, through no fault of mine, as 

 far as I could see, and Ferguson had his inn- 

 ings. The day after I killed this bull he shot 

 two fine mountain rams; and during the re- 

 mainder of our hunt he killed five elk, one 

 cow, for meat, and four good bulls. The two 

 rams were with three others, all old and with 

 fine horns ; Ferguson peeped over a lofty 

 precipice and saw them coming up it only 

 fifty yards below him. His two first and 

 finest bulls were obtained by hard running 

 and good shooting ; the herds were on the 

 move at the time, and only his speed of foot 

 and soundness of wind enabled him to get 

 near enough for a shot. One herd started 

 before he got close, and he killed the master 



