SPORT AND TRAVEL 285 



stantly and then crawled forwards on my hands and 

 knees till I had reached the prostrate trunk of a fallen 

 tree. Then raising myself I peered over it and saw 

 a dozen or fifteen hinds and calves all lying close 

 together on the top of the ridge and on the very edge 

 of the thick timber, into which they could instantly 

 have dashed had anything approached them directly 

 from below, which of course they would have been 

 able to see on the open ground, whilst the wind 

 would have warned them of the approach of anything 

 through the forest behind them. 



As we had made a considerable detour and reached 

 the top of the ridge at a point some distance be- 

 low the position these cunning beasts had taken up 

 for the day, they had neither seen nor scented us. 

 At first I could not see a bull with them, but I 

 soon made out one lying a little below the rest of 

 the herd and half hidden by some small spruce-trees. 

 I could not see his head at all, but his size and the 

 very light colour of his body made me sure of his 

 sex. I was about one hundred and fifty yards dis- 

 tant from the wapiti ; and as they seemed absolutely 

 unconscious of danger, I crouched down again be- 

 hind the log, and turning round, beckoned to Gra- 

 ham, who was about one hundred yards away on the 

 ridge below me. He saw that I had seen the game 

 we were in search of and came up to me very cau- 

 tiously ; but nevertheless, when we raised our heads 

 together for another look, they were all standing up, 



