202 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



answered by another, and all was still. After 

 waiting for perhaps ten minutes, in case any elk 

 might head back to us, we rowed over the lake, 

 and, making for the smoke of the bivouac fire 

 curling over the tops of the trees, found the whole 

 party assembled. It was very plain to read in 

 their countenances that they had got no elk. It 

 seems that a magnificent bull-elk came up singly 

 within twenty yards of the oldest wood- watcher, 

 who fired, when the elk dashed on apparently 

 unhurt, and some minutes after another flying 

 shot was fired at him with no better luck. No 

 one was more disappointed than the old watcher 

 himself, who fired the first shot ; and as he was 

 regarded as one upon whom some dependence 

 ought to have been placed, he was not a little 

 " chaffed" at missing what appeared to the others 

 who saw it a very easy shot. I saw the old boy 

 was annoyed, and I therefore proposed a stroll 

 together to the spot where he had stood, partly to 

 see if we could find any indications of the elk 

 being wounded, and partly to avoid the " chaff, " 

 which was now becoming personal. 



We strolled on in the forest, following the 

 spoor of the elk, when, suddenly coming to a burn 

 with steepish banks, we could plainly see that the 

 elk had fallen when crossing it, and marks of 

 blood were evident on the other side where he 



