SUITING A CHRISTMAS DINNER. 357 



the undulating landscape, which was fringed along the horizon 

 by the pine-trees of the upper hills, some five or six miles 

 away, and these it was certain my Christmas dinner would do 

 her utmost to reach. 



Up the hill-side I could only move slowly, following the 



well-marked trail left by the elk, and which was rendered more 



conspicuous still by the blood drops freely scattered on the 



snow. Rising over the ridge, I found Bronson coming round 



from the right, now just upon a level with me, riding hard, 



and gesticulating towards the front. A broad sweep of sloping 



prairie lay before, stretching down to a creek-bed, which 



appeared to lead direct to the pine-hills ; and along its bottom, 



fully half a mile away, the great elk was to be seen, making 



tremendous play towards the sanctuary. Plainly it was to be a 



question of speed and endurance between our ponies and the 



elk ; so, quickly propping my heavy rifle against a bush, I took 



tight hold of little Smoke's head, and sent him best pace along 



the slope. For a mile or so it was very evident that, even in 



the snow, the elk's three legs were better than the four which 



were burdened with thirteen stone of flesh and accoutrements. 



I could barely keep the big beast in sight as I held the upper 



ground and she struggled along the bottom. Soon I saw that 



the creek-bed forked right and left, and I lost no little distance 



by speculating to the right, with a view to cutting my game off 



from the nearest section of the pine-hills. The elk swung 



round the corner to the left, and I followed suit at once by 



dipping in and out of the right-hand branch, and galloping 



parallel with the left. By this time Bronson's " squaw pony " 



was far behind, and little Smoke, with all his six-hundred -yard 



reputation (and six hundred yards is a long-distance race in 



Montana) was beginning to show very visible signs of the effect 



of some three miles through heavy snow. I had neither whip 



nor spurs, but soon found it necessary to untie my saddle-rope, 



and make use of its end to keep him galloping at all. The elk 



was no longer to be seen, and the ground becoming rather 



broken. 



