WAPITI, ROEBUCK, AND GORAL 



slowly up a ravine not two hundred yards from me but 

 under cover of the hill and beyond my sight. 



A little before dark we started home by way of a deep 

 ravine which extended out to the main valley. We 

 were talking in a low tone and I was smoking a cigarette 

 — ^my rifle slung over my shoulder. Suddenly Harry 

 exclaimed, "Great Scott, Roy! There's a ma-lu." 



On the instant his rifle banged, and I looked up just 

 in time to see a bull wapiti stop on an open slope of the 

 ravine about ninety yards away. Before I had un- 

 slung my rifle Harry fired again, but he could not see 

 the notch in his rear sight and both bullets went high. 



Through the peep sight in my Mannlicher the animal 

 was perfectly visible, and when I fired, the bull dropped 

 like lead, rolling over and over down the hill. He at- 

 tempted to get to his feet but was unable to stand, and 

 I put him down for good with a second shot. It all 

 happened so quickly that we could hardly realize that 

 a day of disappointment had ended in success. 



On our way back to camp Harry and I decided that 

 this would end our hunt, for we had three fine bulls, 

 and it was evident that only a very few wapiti remained. 

 The species is doomed to early extinction for, with the 

 advent of the railroad, the last stand which the elk 

 have made by means of their extraordinary adaptation 

 to changed conditions will soon become easily accessible 

 to foreign sportsmen. We at least could keep our con- 

 sciences clear and not hasten the inevitable day by 

 undue slaughter. In western China other species of 

 wapiti are found in greater numbers, but there can be 



