MY FIRST ELK. 81 



stantly turned tail and flew off like the wind^ leaving 

 one of their number struggling and kicking on the 

 ground. It was a fat doe^ and the bullet must have 

 ricocheted, as it had entered her belly and apparently 

 broken the spine. As I had shot quite enough for that 

 day, I left off and explored a bit. 



What wonderful valleys there are in America, only 

 waiting for population to develope them ! There was a 

 good-sized stream near by, but I could not get the 

 colour of gold at all, though I am sure the surrounding 

 hills contain large quantities of copper, though whether in 

 paying quantities or not is another question. The boy 

 caught the " 2*40 nag,^^ as he called him, and after 

 picking out the tit-bits of the bear, and wrapping them 

 up in the skin, we travelled campwards. On arriving 

 we found, as we expected, that our trap had proved 

 successful, as a fine, large, fat black bear was lying stone 

 dead with half his neck blown to ribbons. " Got him 

 this time,^^ I said. " Bet yer bottom dollar,'^ quoth the 

 boy, and then relapsed into silence again. 



" Bear " is vile eating ; it's more like the coarsest and 

 blackest kind of beef than anything else. Elk is 

 beautiful — superior to our venison. It is a remarkable fact 

 that you can eat a very great deal more venison than you 

 can beef. The reason I know it is that once, when I was 

 out with two Canadians on a trip to Oregon, a fine cow 

 strayed away from a settlement some six miles off, and in 

 the morning the pretty creature was feeding quietly 

 outside our shanty. Such a chance was not to be lost, 

 and we cached and milked that cow for a week. At 

 the end of that time a large, bony man, with a rifle 

 and about half a dozen revolvers, made his appearance 

 one evening. " Seed air a keow slapping around these 



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