"Now, John, this is your chance," whispered my companion, and alighting from our horses we fastened them and crawled towards the elk. When we could see them plainly, we found that one was much larger than the other, and little Paul said to me, "You fire at the big fellow, and I will take the other." We were now at the end of our cover, and rising up I let drive at the larger of the two. But when little Paul attempted to shoot, his treacherous old flint-lock hung fire, and both man and beast had moved before it went off. Both elk jumped into the thicket, and reloading we rushed in after them. We soon came upon mine, still standing, but badly hurt. I let him have another shot, and this finished him. The other was gone on the jump through the woods. My companion and I straightened the dead elk for skinning, and then went for our horses. Having done this we began to skin and cut up our game, of course keeping watch all the time. Samson's blood-curdling facts, related so recently, made us more than ordinarily watchful, for we knew that our three shots fired in quick succession would be heard a long way in the clear morning air. [Illustration: "Rising up I let drive at the larger of the two."] We had scarcely got started at the work of skinning the elk, when the uneasiness of our horses indicated some movement in sight. We seized our guns and sprang to see what it was, when to our delight Samson rode up. "Well, what luck?" he asked. We showed him our "kill," and told him of the other elk. He said he had killed a large jumping deer, but that hearing our shots he had galloped to see what was the matter. "And now I am here," he added, "I will leave my horse with you and go on the track of the elk." Saying which, away he sprang into the thicket on the trail of the flying beast. We were not half through with our task when we heard a shot, and presently Samson was back with us to report the death of the other elk. "Now," said he, "the carcase is about half way from here to where my deer lies. Let us pack this one over to his comrade, and then have our breakfast, after which we can cache the meat of the three animals and take the hides and part of the meat and strike back to camp." As he was the captain of our hunt this was done. We had breakfast on elk horn and bits of tripe and the marrow of the shank bones. Then we made a temporary staging in the shade and packed our meat on it, taking care to secure it against the tireless wolverine. We also covered the meat with boughs laden with fresh leaves, and then with a hide on each saddle and a supply of meat we started back and found our people camped not far from where we had fared so sumptuously the day before on broiled owlets.