ON WHITE RIVER. 



483 



We were, however, doomed to disap- 

 pointment. The rising water had entirely 

 submerged the wild rice and the few flocks 

 that came in, circled around, at a distance, 

 and, seeing the aspect so changed, went 

 away without stopping. Just as the sun 

 began to peep over the woods, in the East, 

 I proposed that we give it up. Frank was 

 only too glad to do so, and we pulled down 

 across the lake, feeling rather " down-in- 

 the-mouth." 



The beauty of the scenery, on lake and 

 river, in the rosy light of the morning, 

 brightened our spirits somewhat, and 

 fore we reached town we were singing. 

 Frank seemed to have forgotten the misery 

 of the night, and to be as good as new. 



Some incidents of this life look better in 

 retrospect than when we face them, and 

 though we didn't enjoy that night, we laugh 

 now when we remember how we got floated 

 off the sand bar. 



ON WHITE RIVER. 



J. M. CAMPBELL. 



The weather was cold, and almost every 

 day the wind whistled through the trees, 

 blowing the snow off hill-sides and piling 

 it up in the gulches. We had been waiting 

 many days for these White river zephyrs 

 to cease their continual moaning. Finally, 

 as necessity knows no law, we were com- 

 pelled to get some elk; for, as in the case 

 of all guides and hunters, meat was a large 

 part of the provisions found in our larder. 



On the morning of December 20, the sun 

 shone dimly through a veil of clouds; so 

 my partner, Chas. Smith, and I thought we 

 would better start before the sun hid his 

 face altogether. We went to a cabin be- 

 tween the South Fork of White river and 

 Elk creek. 



On the first day we saw plenty of tracks, 

 but no fresh ones. Although the wind was 

 drifting the snow so at times we could see 

 only a short distance, we hunted faithfully 

 all day, coming in at night, without having 

 seen an elk. 



On returning to camp, we found 2 other 

 hunters, who joined us in the hunt on the 

 following day. The snow was deep, reach- 

 ing to the horses' sides, but, by taking 

 turns riding in the lead, to break a trail, we 

 managed to get along. 



About noon we saw a bunch of 12 elk. 

 On seeing us, they ran over a hill, toward 

 Elk creek, but as we knew they would hes- 

 itate before going through a lot of fallen 

 timber directly ahead, we followed. One 

 of the strangers, a German, was in the lead. 



Just as we reached the crest of a hill he 

 dismounted and began to shoot. We could 

 not fire for fear of hitting him. He was 

 excited and was moving from side to side, 

 which brought him directly in line with the 



elk. Finally, 2 cows ran to the left, and we 

 shot them. The main bunch moved off. 

 We went to dress the cows, while the Ger- 

 man followed the band. 



After we had looked at the tracks, to 

 make sure none of the others had been 

 wounded, we struck across to some hills, 

 where the snow was not so deep. Tracks 

 were plentiful, but we traveled fully 3 miles 

 before seeing any game. Then we saw an 

 elk run into a grove. Shortly afterward 4 

 more were seen. They were some distance 

 off, but after firing 3 shots each, one 

 dropped and another went off, wounded. 



Away went the dog on his trail. Every 

 now and then we could hear the dog bay- 

 ing, but before we could get close enough 

 to shoot the elk would run. We had to 

 get off our horses occasionally, to break 

 trails through the drifts. About dusk we 

 killed the wounded elk, and started for 

 camp. 



Arrived there, we found supper ready, 

 and while we were doing justice to that, our 

 German friend entertained us with a story 

 of his adventures. 



After leaving us, the first thing he did 

 was to get into a lot of fallen timber. Ex- 

 tricating himself from that, he followed the 

 elk until he got within range, when he 

 fired a few shots, but killed nothing. In 

 making his horse jump a log, a branch 

 caught him under the chin, knocking him 

 out of the saddle. One of his feet stuck in 

 the stirrup and the horse dragged him a 

 short distance through the snow. Al- 

 though his back was lame, and he com- 

 plained of a " crick in the neck," we all 

 went down to the river together, the fol- 

 lowing day. 



