ght or
ten yards of him.

"Now!" I whispered to Pat, and we both sprang up and dashed forward
with our spears aimed at the elk's breast.

So completely surprised was he that he did not even attempt to fly, but
stood staring at us with his large lustrous eyes, till Pat's spear
entered his chest, and I, who was more on the outside, had wounded him
in the shoulder.

Pat, instead of pressing home his spear, withdrew it with the intention
of making another lunge, when the animal started back, and reared on its
hind legs, as if about to strike Pat, who, seeing his danger, leaped
back under cover, calling to me to follow him. I had no time to do
this; but hoping that the wound which Pat had inflicted would prove
mortal, ran off to a distance.

The elk missed Pat but saw me, and immediately came bounding towards me.
I had barely time to slip behind a thick poplar, when the elk's horns
came crashing against it. The animal, apparently, in its fury had not
seen the tree.

Finding itself stopped, it retreated, when it again caught sight of me,
and made another rush; but, as before, I avoided it by slipping round
the tree.

Now it rushed with its antlers against the trunk; now it reared, pawing
with its feet, one blow from either of which would have laid me low. My
life depended on my quickness of sight and agility. Each time long
strips of bark were torn off the tree, showing how it would have treated
my body.

Again it retired, to charge in the same way as before. I hoped that it
would soon get tired of these performances, but it seemed resolved on my
destruction. To mount the tree was impossible, and I dared not turn
round to ascertain what trees were behind me with branches sufficiently
low to enable me to climb out of the way of the enraged animal.

Pat did not come to my assistance. I hoped indeed that he would not,
for the elk would probably have seen him, and would have pierced him
with its antlers before he would have had a chance of retreating. I
was, however, getting very weary of the fearful game I was playing.

I wanted to ascertain what had become of Pat, but I dared not withdraw
my eye for a moment from the movements of the elk. All my energies, all
my senses were required to escape the dreadful charges it was making.
Now it would rush to one side of the tree, now to the other, while I had
to slip round and round to escape its blows. Not having my usual
strength to begin with, I was becoming ver