50 THE OUT-STATION ; OR, 



a morocco arm-chair, as devoid of sympathy (the 

 occupant, not the chair) and compassion for our perils, 

 as he is full of contempt for our fool-hardiness, or of 

 delight at the prospect of our broken collar-bone. 



However, it happened one fine day, after I had 

 spent about half-a-dozen hours in scrambling over 

 the hardest rocks that I ever came in contact with 

 in my life, that on reaching the summit of my ambi- 

 tion, I was met face to face by the most magnificent 

 elk I had ever encountered, standing on the same 

 ridge of rock as myself so sudden and so electrify- 

 ing was his noble appearance, that we stood gazing in 

 mute astonishment at one another for a very consider- 

 able time ; how long, it is impossible to say. 



Every idea of having a gun in my possession, and 

 of the " mission" on which I was engaged, had oozed 

 out of my composition, and which was the most as- 

 tonished of the two is not a matter that can ever 

 be very satisfactorily proved, but the elk was the first 

 to regain his reasoning faculties. 



Throwing up his head into the air, he gave a 

 half-neigh, half-scream, like that of a frightened 

 horse, which also had a revivifying effect on myself 

 in making me unship the double-barrelled rifle, still 

 slung behind me, and take advantage of the instant 

 left to commence the fight. 



In a second he had made a bound to an adjoining 

 ledge of the precipice, to gain which he must at the 

 very least, have cleared ten yards of space, when 

 without taking aim, or even having time to bring the 



