64 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



yards of the Elk, with nothing but the river and a salmon- 

 berry bush between us. 



"And now for a half -hour of close observation that 

 money can not buy. There they were, six noble fellows, 

 the smallest being a spike- bull and the largest a six- 

 pointer. Do Elk chew the cud? Yes; just the same as 

 domestic cattle. I now perceived why the Elk were lying 

 near the water. There seemed to be a cold strata of air, 

 kept in motipn by the water, that drove the mosquitoes 

 from the open bar back into the brush. 



' ' The Elk were all lying with their heads down-stream. 

 How grand they looked in repose! How I did long for a 

 camera! There were sets of antlers there (in the velvet) 

 that would have weighed seventy-live pounds. How leis- 

 urely the old chaps chewed their cuds! How unconscious 

 of danger they seemed! I leveled my rifle at the head of a 

 three-point bull (being the smallest I could get a shot at), 

 and pressed the trigger. 



"The others never ceased chewing their cud. They 

 seemed to think the sound had been caused by the break- 

 ing and falling of some dry limb of a tree. A defect- 

 ive, cartridge? No, I guess the sights of my rifle must 

 have got moved some way. No, they are all right. May 

 be the gun is excited:! No, it seemed to be as cool as 

 possible under the circumstances. I then began to exam 

 ine myself. I thought I was all right, too; so I tried 

 again. 



"Now all was confusion. Yes, I hit the Elk, but too 

 low down on the head, breaking the lower jaw. The Elk 

 were turning in all directions, yet I kept my eye on my 

 wounded bull, and fired again, breaking a fore leg. Another 

 shot broke a hind leg. This left him floundering in the 

 water. I hurried across, and as I approached him, he 

 turned his hair forward and made a lunge at me. As his 

 lower jaw was broken, his mouth looked as large as an alli- 

 gator's. I finally succeeded in killing him. I skinned him, 

 and took about forty pounds of meat; and thai, with the 

 hide, was all I could carry. 



