IN THE GULA VALLEY 133 



only accompanied us on occasions on his own ground. 

 The other men were our regular hunters. 



For the next fifteen days we tramped through 

 forest, marsh, and over fjeld in pursuit of the elk we 

 had crossed the North Sea to kill, took in ozone and 

 health with every breath, and worked off the last 

 traces of a London season's enervation. 



The first day we had a drive on the north end 

 of the ground. This meant sending two of the 

 hunters to walk some miles of forest, while A. H. and 

 I, under the guidance of Peder Kirkvold, lay in wait 

 in the likeliest woodland passes. Elk do not ' drive ' 

 in the ordinary sense of the term, and have ideas of 

 their own as to where they will go when disturbed. 

 They can certainly be moved by one man, but only 

 intercepted by another if wind be right, plans well 

 laid, and, above all, if fate be propitious. At best it 

 is a chancy business. The old bull is not always 

 where he ought to be for the purpose, and on this 

 occasion the drive did not come off. We saw two cow 

 elk we did not want to shoot. Ivor lost himself for 

 several hours, and we returned home admiring the 

 scenery, and reflecting that a successful elk-drive the 

 first day out was more than ordinary mortals could 

 expect. 



Next day we moved fifteen miles up the river to 

 Johan's house, our headquarters, in the centre of the 

 ground. After that the weather fairly broke, and 

 tramping spruce and birch woods in a snowstorm was 

 a constant experience. What a game of hide-and-seek 

 this elk -hunting is ! or, rather, let me say, a game for 

 us, but a deadly earnest business for the elk. Tracks, 

 and large ones, we saw nearly every day, but for some 

 time we could not get on terms with the animals at all. 



