64 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



yards of the Elk, with nothing but the river and a salmon- 

 berry bush between us. 



"And now for a half -hour of close observation that 

 money can not buy. There they were, six noble fellows, 

 the smallest being a spike-bull and the largest a six- 

 pointer. Do Elk chew the cud? Yes; just the same as 

 domestic cattle. I now perceived why the Elk were lying 

 near the water. There seemed to be a cold strata of air, 

 kei)t in motion by the water, that drove the mosquitoes 

 from the open bar back into the brush. 



' ' The Elk were all lying with their heads down-stream. 

 How grand they looked in repose! How I did long for a 

 camera! There were sets of antlers there (in the velvet) 

 that would have weighed seventy-live pounds. How leis- 

 urely the old chaps chewed their cuds! How unconscious 

 of danger they seemed! I leveled my rifle at the head of a 

 three-point bull (being the smallest I could get a shot at), 

 and pressed the trigger. 



"The others never ceased chewing their cud. They 

 seemed to think the sound had been caused by the break- 

 ing and falling of some dry limb of a tree. A defect- 

 ive cartridge? No, I guess the sights of my rifle must 

 have got moved some way. No, they are all right. May 

 be the gun is excited? No, it seemed to be as cool as 

 possible under the circumstances. I then began to exam- 

 ine myself. I thought I was all right, too; so I tried 

 again. 



"Now all was confusion. Yes, I hit the Elk, but too 

 low down on the head, breaking the lower jaw. The Elk 

 were turning in all directions, yet I kept my eye on my 

 wounded bull, and fired again, breaking a fore leg. Another 

 shot broke a hind leg. This left him floundering in the 

 water. I hurried across, and as I approached him, he 

 turned his hair forward and made a lunge at me. As his 

 lower jaw was broken, his mouth looked as large as an alli- 

 gator's. I finally succeeded in killing him. I skinned him, 

 and took about forty pounds of meat; and that, with the 

 hide, was all I could carry. 



