as he peered under the bluff for
sight of the sheep. They had gone over the steep rim as if they had
wings. "Beats hell how sheep can go down without fallin'! An' how they
can hide!"

He knew they were near at hand and he wasted time peering to spy them
out. Nevertheless, he could not locate them. Fox waited impatiently for
the word to let him prove how easily he could rout them out, but this
permission was not forthcoming.

"We're huntin' elk, you Jack-of-all-dogs," reprovingly spoke the hunter
to Fox.

So they went on around the rim, and after a couple of miles of travel
came to the forest, and then open heads of hollows that widened and
deepened down. Here was excellent pasture and cover for elk. Wade left
the rim to ride down these slow-descending half-open ridges, where
cedars grew and jack-pines stood in clumps, and little grassy-bordered
brooks babbled between. He saw tracks where a big buck deer had crossed
ahead of him, and then he flushed a covey of grouse that scared the
horses, and then he saw where a bear had pulled a rotten log to pieces.
Fox did not show any interest in these things.

By and by Wade descended to the junction of these hollows, where three
tiny brooklets united to form a stream of pure, swift, clear water,
perhaps a foot deep and several yards wide.

"I reckon this's the head of the Troublesome," said Wade. "Whoever named
this brook had no sense.... Yet here, at its source, it's gatherin'
trouble for itself. That's the way of youth."

The grass grew thickly and luxuriantly and showed signs of recent
grazing. Elk had been along the brook that morning. There were many
tracks, like cow tracks, only smaller, deeper, and more oval; and there
were beds where elk had lain, and torn-up places where bulls had plowed
and stamped with heavy hoofs.

Fox trailed the herd to higher ground, where evidently they had entered
the woods. Here Wade tied his horses, and, whispering to Fox, he
proceeded stealthily through this strip of spruce. He came out to an
open point, taking care, however, to keep well screened, from which he
had a glimpse of a parklike hollow, grassy and watered. Working round to
better vantage, he soon espied what had made Fox stand so stiff and
bristling. A herd of elk were trooping up the opposite slope, scarcely a
hundred yards distant. They had heard or scented him, but did not appear
alarmed. They halted to look back. The hunter's quick estimate credited
nearly two dozen to