258 
WILD BLASTS AND THEIR WAYS 
CHAP. 
Having reached a locality where the ground 
was favourable, we rode through a series of open 
glades separated from each other by belts of 
spruce and cotton-wood. This was a likely 
place for game. The surface was undulating, and 
the rich grass in the glades would afford 
pasturage, at the same time that the belts of trees 
gave shelter. We were riding leisurely through 
this promising country when I suddenly observed 
the branch of a dead tree move. I immediately 
checked my horse, and watched. Again the same 
branch moved at about 150 yards’ distance. I 
dismounted gently. My hunter Jem, who was be¬ 
hind me, did the same. 
I had seen at once that the object I had at 
first mistaken for a branch was the portion of a 
wapiti’s horn of very large dimensions. The 
reins were now drawn over the horses’ heads, and 
they were left to graze. 
There was a small clump of green spruce firs 
upon a gentle slope on our right, and we con¬ 
cluded, according to the wind, that we should be 
in a safe position to obtain a shot if we could 
manage to reach such shelter undiscovered. Some 
rising ground concealed the wapiti, and now that I 
dismounted, I could not see the antlers. 
My hunter had not observed them. 
Making a detour to our right, we at length 
succeeded in reaching the clump of thick green 
spruce. Pushing our way softly through the 
yielding boughs, we gained the edge, from which 
