THE WAPITI OR ELK 



59 



bull not two hundred yards ahead, as if in defiant an- 

 swer to my shot. 



"Running- quietly forward, I speedily caught a 

 glimpse of his body. He was behind some fir-trees 

 about seventy yards off, and I could not see which 

 way he was standing, and so fired into the patch of 

 flank which was visible, aiming high to break the back. 

 My aim was true, and the huge beast crashed down- 

 hill through the evergreens, pulling himself on his 

 forelegs for fifteen or twenty rods, his hind quarters 

 trailing. Racing forward, I broke his neck. His ant- 

 lers were the finest I ever gfot. 



" These two bulls lay only a couple of hundred yards 

 apart, on a broad game trail, which was as well beaten 

 as a good bridle-path. We began to skin out the 

 heads ; and as we were finishing, we heard another 

 bull challenging far up the mountain. He came nearer 

 and nearer, and as soon as we had ended our work, 

 we grasped our rifles and trotted toward him on the 

 game trail. He was very noisy, uttering his loud, 

 singing challenge every minute or two ; the trail was 

 so broad and firm, that we walked in perfect silence. 

 After going only five or six hundred yards, we got very 

 close indeed, and stole forward on tip-toe, listening to 

 the roaring music. The sound came from a steep, 

 narrow ravine to one side of the trail, and 1 walked 

 toward it with my rifle at the ready. A slight puff 

 gave the elk my wind, and he dashed out of the 

 ravine like a deer ; but he was only thirty yards off, 

 and my bullet went into his shoulder as he passed be- 

 hind a clump of young spruce. I plunged into the 

 ravine, scrambled out of it, and raced after him. In a 



