THE WHITE ELK OF ASTORIA. 247 



the time I could among tlie elk at Astoria. So I bid 

 adieu to my hospitable ranchers, and took the boat 

 down the river. Astoria at that time was a very 

 insignificant spot, very woody and very dull ; how- 

 ever, it was about the best place on the west 

 coast for game, and that was what I wanted. The 

 man of the house where I stopped was not a 

 " shootist " himself, but I found no difficulty in hiring a 

 man and a boy for two weeks, and no wonder, as their 

 sole occupation in life was chopping wood. Our greatest 

 difficulty was in hiring horses, but at length I got one 

 pretty good mule, and another lean creature of an un- 

 known species ; anyhow, his owner assured us that he 

 possessed the inestimable advantage of eating and drink- 

 ing anything when he could get it, and nothing when 

 he couldn^t, and of being able to live on this fare 

 till his hair turned grey. I had mentally de- 

 termined to go without any whisky, but little did 

 I know those wood choppers ! Go without whiskey ? 

 why they'd as soon think of voting on the Aristocratic 

 ticket ! I said to the old one, '^^Nonsense, Tve got 

 enough in my flask, and good too— try some." He took 

 down about a wineglass of it. " Don^t think much of 

 it, boss ; it goes down too iley ; I likes plenty of grit in 

 my liquor ! " So I had to get a couple of bottles of 

 diluted sulphuric acid, which were labelled, " Best 

 Bourbon whiskey, warranted 20 per cent, over proof." 

 I made a forced march the first day of over twenty- 

 five miles, and an extra bittock of five more in the 

 evening. I did this as I knew the odds were the man 

 would go back as soon as the liquor was gone. The 

 man and the boy drank every drop of the stufi" the first 

 night, to my great delight. I hobbled the horse and 



