228 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



came to a second bed, from which he had sprung with 

 a plunge, and then rushed down the hill through the 

 snow. He had, of course, either seen or scented or 

 heard me, as I passed along the hillside above him on 

 his trail, and had taken up such a position as to render 

 it quite impossible for anything to come on his trail, 

 without his becoming cognisant of it. 



I have known African elephants, in districts where 

 they have been much persecuted, execute this same 

 manoeuvre ; and I find it impossible to account for 

 such facts except on the assumption that animals 

 possess reasoning faculties which they are capable of 

 exerting under pressure of circumstances. According 

 to old writers on American hunting, all wapiti were 

 once very stupid animals. Now some wapiti, at least, 

 have become as cunning and as capable of reasoning 

 out the best way of taking care of themselves as a 

 South African elephant. 



After a few plunges downhill, the wounded wapiti 

 had again turned upwards. The snow was so deep 

 that it was not only very exhausting work getting 

 through it, but impossible to do this at all except at 

 a very slow pace. Presently the tracks led me again 

 to the top of the ridge, where the wounded bull had 

 ceased to follow the rest of the herd, but from here 

 he had mounted to a still higher shoulder of the 

 mountain, and late in the afternoon he led me back 

 to the herd once more, either by accident or design. 

 I first saw the heads and ears of three hinds. They 



