Trail and Camp-Fire 



through the woods to a new watch point per- 

 haps ninety yards from the old spruce stub. 

 When I reached it, it was so dark that even 

 out in the open the little bushes made mere 

 black blotches against the lighter meadow 

 grass. Under the old stub I could distinguish 

 nothing. But, as I stood there in the silent 

 crisp air there came the sound of something 

 crunching and cracking at the old elk ribs. 

 The rascal was stealing my bait again ! 



I slipped down off the watching point, stole 

 around behind a low ridge of rock and ran 

 down under cover of that to its further point, 

 distant some thirty yards from the spruce 

 stub. The bait lay on the other side of the 

 stub from me now, and anything feeding was 

 hidden by some bushes which grew around its 

 base. 



With my rifle at the ready I sprinted across 

 this remaining distance. When almost there 

 I stumbled over a dead stick in the long mea- 

 dow grass and nearly fell. Instantly a large 

 dark object leaped to the right from the 

 bushes, and made off for the woods. As soon 

 as I could straighten up I threw a bullet after 

 it, much as one would throw a stone after a 



dog. At the shot a second black form, ap- 



246 



