SPORT AND TRAVEL 191 



and fired at during September, as I have described 

 above, I one day caught half a glimpse of a third. 

 Graham and I got his fresh spoor high up near tim- 

 ber line one morning. Heavy rain having fallen the 

 previous night, all the twigs and pine needles, lying on 

 the ground beneath the trees, had been well soaked 

 and so made no noise when trodden upon, as they 

 bent to the foot, instead of rustling or cracking as they 

 do when dry. We were thus enabled to track this 

 wapiti bull almost noiselessly, and had the timber 

 been a little more open, I should doubtless have got a 

 shot at him. Unfortunately he was lying in a thick 

 patch of spruce ; and although we saw a bough move 

 as he jumped up, and I just caught a glimpse of his 

 whitish rump as he jumped away, I had neither the 

 time nor the opportunity for a shot. I ran forwards 

 as hard as I could, but saw nothing more of him in the 

 thick timber. We then took up the tracks and 

 followed them a long way, but never caught sight of 

 the wary brute again ; nor indeed after having once 

 disturbed a wapiti bull, have I ever set eyes on one 

 of these animals again, though I have followed some 

 for hours. 



It was not till September the 2Qth that I saw a 

 mule deer buck with a head worth keeping, though I 

 had previously shot quite a young one for the sake of 

 the meat. On the occasion in question I was walking 

 along a steep side-hill thickly covered with spruce and 

 pine trees, when my eyes suddenly became aware of 



