98 SHORT STALKS 



not mucli. It is nearly as easy to lead pack animals, 

 loaded with wapiti horns, through such timber, erect and 

 prone, as lay behind us, as to drag a flight of hooks 

 through a knitted stocking, and we could only aflord to 

 devote a single horse to this kind of luggage. There was 

 therefore little temptation to hunt, except to keep our- 

 selves in meat, for we could not carry oft" our trophies 

 except to a very limited extent. 



But though we did not burn much powder, some 

 interesting days fell to our lot. During the whole of 

 one day, we together followed an immense herd of wapiti, 

 which the snow had aj^parently compelled to herd together 

 and mio;rate to a lower level. It had also the eff"ect of 

 hastening the " whistling " time, and the woods resounded 

 in this first Aveek in September with the strange note. 

 It was as if all the steamers, big and little, in New 

 York harbour had got into a fog and were trying to 

 avoid a collision. The guttural old hero of many fights 

 was answered by the impudent squeal of an aspiring- 

 youngster. Hoarse or clear, deep or shrill, all combined 

 to swell the chorus of many throats, amongst which, 

 after a time, we fancied we began to recognise the 

 characteristic note of certain individuals. The snow, as 

 we followed in their tracks, was ploughed like a cattle- 

 yard. We hoped to " get in " and slay the monarch of 

 the herd, but it was constantly on the move and covered 

 a large area. In our attempts we were more than once 

 bafiled by some outlying young stag or cautious old cow, 

 who barked her alarms. These warninos did not seem to 

 quicken the pace of the main body, who at length 

 gathered and halted on the top of a low hill, partly 



