EARLY DAY STORIES. ^ 115 



would have been hidden by the grass. The job of locating 

 and examining the timber was a short one and was com- 

 pleted in two or three days. There was no game seen, how- 

 ever, while we were at work, and only an occasional fresh 

 track. It had all left the burned over country. I was glad 

 of this, for now in going up the valley to find a good hunt- 

 ing ground, there would be a chance to explore some new 

 country. 



Following up the valley several miles we found a tract 

 that was not burned over, in the southwest corner of Valley 

 county, near the present site of Arcadia, and here we made 

 the first camp. It was nearly night, and while Bob did the 

 camp work I went out with the rifle to get some venison for 

 supper. It should have been easy, but it was not. I got 

 two fair standing shots and missed them both. This was a 

 bad beginning, but such things will happen sometimes. I 

 could account for it only because it was almost night, and 

 the sky was overcast making it difficult to see the gun sights 

 plainly. 



The next day our luck changed. We went afoot up 

 the valley four or five miles to the Custer county line, where 

 we found a good place to camp should we wish to move, 

 and while there saw a band of elk a mile perhaps up the 

 valley, coming down out of the hills toward the river. Here 

 was the game we wanted. Great care was necessary in ap- 

 proaching them. Probably this was our only chance to get 

 elk, and we knew it, because usually there is only one band 

 of elk in the same neighborhood. They are always alert, 

 looking out for danger. It is much more difficult to ap- 

 proach a drove of thirty or forty elk than to approach a small 

 band of five or six, for the reason that they are spread out 

 over more territory, and it is difficult to keep hidden from 

 all of them at once . We watched them until they came near 

 the river bank, when they stopped and some of them be- 

 gan to feed. Near the river was a tract of low land, some 



