166 The Wilderness Hunter. 



from opposite sides of the valley, a short distance above 

 our camp ; and the master bulls were roaring defiance as 

 they mustered their harems. 



I walked stealthily up the valley, until I felt that I 

 was nearly between the two herds ; and then stood motion- 

 less under a tall pine. The ground was quite open at this 

 point, the pines, though large, being scattered ; the little 

 brook ran with a strangled murmur between its rows of 

 willows and alders, for the ice along its edges nearly 

 skimmed its breadth. The stars paled rapidly, the gray dawn 

 brightened, and in the sky overhead faint rose-colored 

 streaks were turning blood-red. What little wind there 

 was breathed in my face and kept me from discovery. 



I made up my mind, from the sound of the challenging, 

 now very near me, that one bull on my right was advancing 

 towards a rival on my left, who was answering every call. 

 Soon the former approached so near that I could hear him 

 crack the branches, and beat the bushes with his horns ; 

 and I slipped quietly from tree to tree, so as to meet him 

 when he came out into the more open woodland. Day 

 broke, and crimson gleams played across the snow-clad 

 mountains beyond. 



At last, just as the sun flamed red above the hill-tops, 

 I heard the roar of the wapiti's challenge not fifty yards 

 away ; and I cocked and half raised my rifle, and stood 

 motionless. In a moment more, the belt of spruces in 

 front of me swayed and opened, and the lordly bull stepped 

 out. He bore his massive antlers aloft ; the snow lay thick 

 on his mane ; he snuffed the air and stamped on the ground 

 as he walked. As I drew a bead, the motion caught his 



