i 9 o SPORT AND TRAVEL 



diately I reached the edge of the timber ; but before 

 I had stepped into the open ground I saw three or 

 four wapiti hinds standing just on the edge of the 

 forest at the foot of the open grass slope, and almost 

 at the same moment caught sight of a great bull, 

 with what seemed a beautiful pair of wide-spread 

 antlers, going off at full gallop through the pine-trees. 



The chance was not a good one, but I knew I should 

 not get another, so getting the sight on to some part 

 of his back, I was high above him, I fired and 

 thought I had hit him, as at the shot he swung 

 right round, and running under the thick low-hanging 

 branches of a large pine suddenly stopped. He was, 

 however, quite invisible. Then the hinds came run- 

 ning across the lower edge of the open ground, and 

 the next moment I saw the branches of the pine where 

 the stag had been standing move, and caught occasional 

 glimpses of parts of him as he once more dashed off 

 amongst the tree stems. This time, however, I found 

 it impossible to get a shot at him. This wapiti stag 

 did not rejoin the hinds, but went off by himself, and 

 we never saw him again. We found no blood on his 

 spoor, and whether my bullet hit him, grazed him, or 

 missed him altogether, I do not know; but as I did not 

 get him, I hope it was the latter. It was a poor chance at 

 best, and the luck was never with me at this time, as it 

 was when I killed the big prong-horn buck, and again 

 later on after I had had a month's chastening. 



Besides the two wapiti bulls which I actually saw 



