i68 



RECREATION. 



the other details of our surroundings, 

 drawing inspiration at every breath 

 from the beautiful scene, when I was 

 surprised at a shrill peal from the sil- 

 very bugle of the "lord of the band." 

 Looking to the left, up close to the 

 lake where an opening in the forest al- 

 lowed the sunshine to stream down 

 about him, I saw an immense bull, 

 with a set of magnificent antlers. 

 With his head thrown well up, he was 

 uttering his call in tones as inspiring 

 and musical as the notes of a flute. 



Those of the band near him made 

 toward him, and turning, with steps 

 as proud as an emperor's and without 

 even breaking his walk, he strode off 

 down the gulch, followed by the band. 

 They never saw us. Retreating lei- 

 surely and falling in behind the others, 

 all followed their gallant leader and 

 disappeared from view in the forest 

 below. 



We walked slowly after them, Par- 

 ker bewailing the fate that had lost 

 him the spike bull and had deprived 

 the camp of fresh meat. We care- 

 fully examined the ground his target 

 had so leisurely passed over, for some 

 traces of his bombardment. We 

 found where some of the bullets had 

 struck, but farther than that we could 

 find nothing. 



"He was just about to disappear 

 behind those evergreens this side of 

 that big log as I took my last shot at 

 him," said Parker as we turned down 

 the gulch. 



"Better look the other side of the 

 log," I suggested. "You will prob- 

 ably find him there." Parker looked 

 at me incredulously, but started for 

 the log. As he reached it he wheeled 

 about, jerked his hat from his head, 

 waved it and joyously exclaimed, 



"He's here !" 



This was good news, as it meant 

 meat, in addition to the royal sport we 

 were having. 



We prepared the buck for trans- 

 portation to camp and resumed our 

 homeward journey. We had scarcely 

 gone ioo yards when we made the 



discovery that we were surrounded, 

 actually hemmed in, by a covey of 

 mountain grouse. We enjoyed a few 

 moments of rare sport, shooting off 

 heads with our rifles, as they swayed 

 and bobbed unsteadily among the 

 branches of the evergreens. 



We left them after Securing a brace 

 apieCe* Parker was carrying the liver 

 of the elk just killed. We followed 

 down the gulch, picking our way over 

 so much down timber that we were 

 doubtful about reaching the game we 

 had killed, with the pack horses. We 

 emerged from the timber on open 

 ground just as the sun was setting. 



Sitting down on the last log crossed, 

 we rested and were enjoying the scene 

 before us, when a band of 8 cow elk 

 came over a hill between us and the 

 river, half a mile away. The band 

 was about 300 yards away, coming 

 straight toward us up the mountain. 



They had advanced into sight but a 

 short distance when we observed, a 

 little to the left and nearly parallel 

 with them, a large bull coming lei- 

 surely in our direction. 



"Had I better shoot at that fel- 

 low ?" said Parker, looking intently at 

 the bull, which was then about 225 

 yards away. 



I was undecided what to say. It 

 was probable we could never get a 

 pack horse up to where he had killed 

 the other elk. Here was a chance for 

 him to get a set of horns and at the 

 same time get meat that there would 

 be no trouble in packing into camp. 



"Yes, let him have it." 



Parker dropped on one knee and 

 fired quickly. The bull turned and 

 walked toward the cows, picking his 

 way as if his feet were sore. 



At the second shot he humped his 

 back slightly. The third shot was 

 fired as he was nearly out of sight in 

 a slight depression in the ground. 

 Parker was terribly chagrined, think- 

 ing he had scored a series of misses. 



After the bull's body had disap- 

 peared from sight his horns were still 

 visible. They suddenly disappeared, 



