284 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



and I had left camp just as day was breaking and had 

 made our way for a couple of miles up the valley of the 

 main river, when we made out some animals moving 

 along near the crest of a ridge about one thousand 

 feet above us. It was by this time broad daylight, 

 and a look through the glasses showed us that the 

 game we had seen was a band of wapiti hinds. The 

 ground on which they were when we first saw them 

 was a steep grass slope free from trees, but we knew 

 that they were quite close to a dense forest which 

 covered the whole face of the mountain on the farther 

 side of the ridge. 



As the hinds we had seen soon disappeared from 

 view, and we thought it very likely that there might 

 be a bull somewhere near them, we at once prepared 

 to follow them. It was a stiff climb to the top of 

 the ridge, as the steep frozen grass slopes were very 

 slippery and difficult to negotiate without spiked 

 shoes. Along the top of the ridge we found the 

 snow still lying to the depth of a foot, as it had 

 been sheltered from the sun and wind by the dense 

 pine forest, which clothed the farther slope right up 

 to the top. We found that the herd of wapiti we 

 had seen from below had followed the ridge up- 

 wards ; but there were some tracks going the other 

 way and Graham was examining these, when I, who 

 had walked a few paces on ahead, suddenly saw 

 the head and ears of a hind just appearing above a 

 curve in the ground above me. I ducked down in- 



