186 CRUISINGS IX THE CASCADES 



The ponies grew more anxious but less frightened 

 than at first, and seemed now desirous of making 

 the acquaintance of their wild visitors. 



Slowly the elk moved forward until within thirty 

 or forty feet of me, when I could begin to discern 

 by the starlight their dark, shaggy forms. Then 

 they stopped. I could hear them sniffing the air 

 and could see them moving cautiously from place 

 to place, apparently suspicious of danger. But 

 they were coming down wind, could get no indica- 

 tion of my presence, and were anxious to interview 

 the horses. 



They moved slowly forward, and when they 

 stopped this time, two old bulls and one cow, 

 who were in the front rank, so to speak, stood 

 within ten feet of me. Their great horns towered 

 up like the branches of dead trees, and I could hear 

 them breathe. 



Again they circled from side to side and I thought 

 surely they would get far enough to one quarter or 

 the other to wind me, but they did not. Several 

 other cows and two timid little calves crowded to the 

 front to look at their hornless cousins who now stood 

 close behind me, and even in the starlight, I could 

 have shot any one of them between the eyes. 



My saddle cay use uttered a low gentle whinny, 

 whereat the whole band wheeled and dashed away; 

 but after making a few leaps their momentary scare 

 seemed to subside, and they stopped, looked, snorted 

 a few times and then began to edge up again this 

 time even more shyly than before. 



It was intensely interesting to study the caution 

 and circumspection with which these creatures 



