IN THE FAR WEST. 265 



a sharp whistle. He halted at once to learn its import, and 

 gazed in the direction whence the sound emanated, but before 

 he could decide what it was I planted a bullet right between 

 the eyes, and he fell forward on his face, stone dead. " Hoopee," 

 yelled I in the most joyous manner, and a little later I heard a 

 voice issuing from the forest and calling out, " Have you got 

 him?" "Yes," said I; "come and see what a fine fellow he 

 is." The owner of the voice was soon beside me, and using 

 complimentary terms for bagging " such a fine critter." He 

 was evidently full grown, for his antlers, which were large and 

 wide-spreading, boasted of sixteen points, and his body was as 

 plump as that of a stuffed pheasant. We drew his viscera at 

 once, and tried to suspend him head downward on the bough of a 

 large fir, but as he was too heavy to be pushed up conveniently, 

 I was compelled to climb the tree and help to haul him up on the 

 stub of a huge branch, by means of a stout piece of twine that 

 was fastened to the hind-legs. 



That matter being finished satisfactorily, I descended, and 

 asked my companion what success he had met with, and he 

 replied in the dryest manner possible that he reckoned his deer 

 was making fun of him on the other side of the ravine, but he 

 hoped to be able to laugh at it in a short time. " I'll make 

 that there critter pay for wagging his tail and kicking up his 

 heels at me," said he, "and treating me with as much eon- 

 tempt as a horse-thief would a Justice of the Peace." 



Further inquiry revealed the fact that he had fired and 

 missed, although he thought he had made a hit, and that the 

 animal had been making fun of him by wagging its tail 

 violently as it disappeared down a canyon. 



As he presumed that the group had not moved far off, we 

 returned to where they had been started, and followed their 

 slots into the chasm, thence across it and up on the other 

 side. We had scarcely emerged from its depths before we 

 saw the animals trotting quietly away; but they did not 

 move more than a hundred yards ere they stopped to ga/e at 

 us. The range was a long one, all of three hundred yards, 

 but my companion concluded to try a shot nevertheless, so he 

 picked out a large stag that presented a three-quarter view, and 



