io4 



RECREA TION. 



camp was in the calmest of moods. Then 

 Andy came in sight; his excitement had 

 not decreased. 



"Elk! elk! 6 elk!" he shouted. 

 Then he proceeded to describe them with 

 a profusion of oaths that would, on any 

 other occasion, have called forth a rebuke 

 from the preacher. Were we mad? It 

 would be hard to tell which, just at that 

 time, we most desired to kill, Andy or the 

 elk. The lawyers looked as if a verdict of 

 guilty in the first degree had been ren- 

 dered against them. The minister picked 

 up his gun, looked in the direction the elk 

 had gone, then at Andy. I have known the 

 clergyman intimately for many years and 

 have heard him preach, but on this occa- 

 sion he used a new and strange language. 

 The doctor took out his comb and silently 

 combed his scattered locks and we knew he 

 was deeply stirred; he always expressed his 

 emotions in this way, when too deep for 

 words. Not modesty, but propriety, for- 

 bids that my own language be recorded. 

 We soon found Andy's was a poetic 

 temperament; or at least his imagination 

 was lively; for his 6 elk, "3 with horns 

 and 3 without horns," had walked on 2 

 sets of legs. But this little discrepancy in 

 no way dampened his ardor, for later in 

 the day when he and I came across the 

 track of 6, he reported at the camp with 

 great enthusiasm that we had come upon 

 at least " 200." 



There was no breakfast that morning. 

 Mr. Weir and the doctor started up the 

 mountain side on, the trail of the elk Andy 

 had seen. Mr. Major and I went up the 

 river, thinking the elk might turn and come 

 down along the bank of the stream. We 

 kept up the river for some distance, until 

 we were satisfied the game had not gone 

 that way. We found a fallen tree across 

 the river, probably 18 inches through and 

 100 feet long. It was shaky and slippery 

 and we realized that if we fell it would 

 probably be our last fall; but tame blood 

 flows in the veins of the hunter who will 

 not take his life in his hands when after 

 pig game. So across we went, around a 

 steep, rocky cliff, and up another branch 

 of the river. Here we found that 6 elk — 

 Andy's "200" — had just crossed the 

 stream, the sand in the path being still 

 wet from the water that had dripped from 

 them. The trail being comparatively 

 smooth and level we pushed rapidly after 

 them. 



We followed about 5 miles, and every- 

 thing seemed to indicate that we must 

 come upon them in a few minutes. We 

 halted for a moment and I suggested we 

 place shells in our guns, which we did, and 

 quickly but with great caution, proceeded. 

 We were going up river, near the bank, 



and the roar of the water was so great 

 ordinary conversation could not be heard 

 at a distance of 6 feet. The wind was blow- 

 ing down the canyon. The path was 

 through a sandy bottom. Everything was 

 favorable. We stepped over a low em- 

 bankment, and stood within 60 feet of an 

 immense black bear. He was quietly snif- 

 fing in the moss, evidently attracted by 

 some kind of berries. It was the first 

 time either of us had seen one alive in the 

 woods. It was quite a surprise to us both. 

 My first impression was to feel for a pea- 

 nut to feed him, for he looked the picture 

 of gentleness. But while this thought 

 flashed through my mind, my gun came to 

 my shoulder, and I covered his heart. 

 At that instant Mr. Major's gun gave a 

 slight click, and notwithstanding the dis- 

 tance and the roar of the river the bear 

 heard it and started to raise his head. I 

 changed my aim, and the instant his head 

 was in position to see us I fired. He 

 dropped with scarcely the quiver of a 

 muscle. The .303 had done its work well. 

 The bullet entered the skull at the side 

 of the head, just above the eye. It made 

 a hole about ^ inch in diameter, and as it 

 crossed through the bones, just in front 

 of the brain pan, the destruction was terri- 

 ble, all the front part of the skull being 

 shattered to fragments. The bullet seemed 

 to separate into atoms, for while it did not 

 pass out of the head, yet, with a reasonably 

 careful examination, we were unable to 

 find a particle of it. As we stood^ resting 

 our guns on the bear, admiring his great 

 carcass and remarkable muscular develop- 

 ment, Mr. Major said, 



" Humphrey, I have hunted a great deal 

 with you, and always entertained a favor- 

 able opinion of you, both as a man and as a 

 sportsman, but you played me a mean 

 trick." 



I looked up in surprise, and he continued, 

 " For 3 years I have hunted with you for 

 bear, and when at last we find one you kill 

 it so dead at the first shot, that I am ut- 

 terly without an excuse to shoot at it. Why 

 were you not considerate enough to have 

 it kick a little, at least? " 



" Well," I replied, " you must remember 

 I was laboring under great excitement, and 

 perhaps shot harder than I intended to." 



We tried our camera on the dead bear, 

 but in that deep gorge, whose shadows the 

 sun could not penetrate, it was impossible 

 to get a good view of the great- carcass, as 

 black as the midnight darkness of its forest 

 home. 



'•We are losing time," said Mr. Major. 

 So again we started after the elk. 



Did we' find them? Well, that is another 

 story. This one ends with the death of the 

 bear. 



