AN ELK SEASON. 171 



ground, and in ordinary seasons these pine forests 

 undoubtedly hold elk, but during that particular year 

 they were, owing to the extreme stillness of the weather, 

 very difficult to hunt. The light frosts of the morning 

 formed cat-ice in every small hollow and cranny, and 

 as the cattle had been recently on the hills their tracks 

 were roofed in with white, so that in many places almost 

 every step we took was a clear advertisement of our 

 presence. 



On this morning, however, the sun rose invisibly 

 behind heavy rain-clouds, and soon the wind was thresh- 

 ing and moaning among the trees ; I need not say how 

 we welcomed this beautiful elk-hunting weather after 

 the quiet sunniness of the last days. Having followed 

 the river (where in spite of the turmoil of the rain I 

 could see several good trout lying) for some distance, 

 we struck upwards, and for a couple of hours hunted 

 the precipitous side of the mountain without any success. 

 At length we passed over the summit and emerged 

 upon a kind of rocky terrace set high above a great 

 forest of pines. After carefully examining what open 

 ground there was without seeing anything, Peder rolled 

 one or two large stones down the hillside in the hope 

 of disturbing any animal that might happen to be 

 lying close. This manoeuvre proving quite barren of 

 result, we descended once more to the foothills, and 

 there at last Bismarck began to lead straight up-wind. 



The ever-hopeful Peder at once whispered " Bool ! " 

 and then " Naer, naer ! " which I took I believe 

 rightly to mean near. I imagine Peder judged that 

 Bismarck had the scent direct from the animal or 

 animals, but that he was mistaken in this conclusion was 

 quickly made plain, for in about five minutes or more 



