quiet of but one idea — to creep upon 

 that elk and kill him — possessed me. 

 That gradual painful drawing nearer to 

 my prey seemed a lifetime. I was con- 

 scious of nothing to the right, or to the 

 left of me, only of what I was going to 

 do. There were pine woods and scrub 

 brush and more woods. Then, sud- 

 denly, I saw him standing by the river 

 about to drink. I crawled nearer until 

 I was within one hundred and fifty yards 

 of him, when at the snapping of a twig 

 he raised his head with its crown of 

 branching horn. He saw nothing, so 

 turned again to drink. 



Now was the time. I crawled a few 

 feet nearer and raised the deadly weap- 

 on. The stag turned partly away from 

 me. In another moment he would be 

 gone. I sighted along the metal bar- 

 rel and a terrible bang went booming 



