286 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



and were evidently suspicious. Their sharp ears must 

 have heard something, for they could neither have 

 seen nor winded us. 



The bull was standing below the others facing down 

 the hill, with his head and horns almost entirely 

 hidden behind a small spruce fir. Somehow I did n't 

 think he was a big bull, but I could not tell and 

 dared not wait, for he was the only bull in sight, and 

 a single step forwards would have placed him out of 

 danger. So I fired for his shoulder, he was stand- 

 ing nearly broadside on, and at the shot he dropped 

 in his tracks, rolled over clear of the small trees 

 which had partially covered him, and then went slid- 

 ing down the very steep snow slope, through the 

 forest below him, cannoning from tree to tree until 

 the battered carcass was finally brought up between 

 the stems of two trees growing close together. 



At the shot the hinds and calves first ran a short 

 distance up the slope, then stood for a few moments 

 looking about them, evidently uncertain as to the 

 nature and whereabouts of the danger that threatened 

 them, and finally plunged into the forest below them. 

 The bull I had shot was, alas ! of no value to me, for 

 not only was his head an eight-pointer too small 

 to be worth keeping, but his one horn had been 

 broken off just above the second tine by coming into 

 violent contact with a tree as he slid down the steep 

 snow slope. Nor was this all ; for we found on fol- 

 lowing the carcass to its final resting-place that there 



