234 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



lain down during the night, and from which he had 

 probably only risen at day-dawn. He had chosen 

 his resting-place with wonderful cunning, close to 

 the top of a piece of rising ground where nothing- 

 could have approached unseen, unheard, or unsmelt. 

 After this, he went down to the East Fork Creek, 

 crossed it, and then took straight up the side of a 

 detached mountain whose summit must have been 

 some three thousand feet above the creek, and prob- 

 ably over eleven thousand feet above sea level, as it 

 rose above timber line, and was now a glittering cap 

 of new-fallen snow. I fancy that when we crossed 

 the creek the great stag could not have been very far 

 in front of us, and must have winded us, though we 

 never saw him. He took straight up the mountain; 

 and as we climbed on his tracks, the snow grew 

 deeper and deeper. The disabled beast now pro- 

 gressed in a series of bounds, always springing from 

 his hind legs. Every bound lifted him clear of the 

 snow, and carried him upwards over some eight or 

 nine feet of ground. As we toiled slowly on his 

 tracks I expected to see him standing dead beat at 

 every instant, for I could not believe that so heavy 

 an animal could long endure such tremendous ex- 

 ertion when handicapped with a broken fore leg. 



Suddenly in a bit of thick timber I was in front 

 with my rifle held at the ready I saw either a 

 branch or a horn move, and knew it must be the 

 latter, as there was not a breath of wind stirring. I 



