CHAPTER XI
THE ELK AND THE YOUNG HUNTER
"Hey! Hold on, there! That isn't in the game!"
The elk did not seem to care whether it were so or not, but came rushing straight on. Like many another, more experienced in the ways of the woods than himself, Bluff almost forgot that he had other charges in his gun. He was so amazed to see the animal he had fully believed to be dead show such surprising signs of life, that he stood there for a few precious seconds, gaping as if in a dream.
Then he made a wild spring to one side and gained the shelter of a tree.
"Oh! What a socker!" he exclaimed, as the enraged and bleeding animal came full tilt against the trunk of the tree.
Before he could say more, or try to form any plan of action, he found himself obliged to spin around that same trunk with all the rapidity he
could command, for the elk was apparently determined to overtake him, and those towering antlers seemed pointed with spikes, in the eyes of the startled lad as he strained every effort to keep beyond their reach.
Bluff was really alarmed by this time. He knew that any unfortunate slip on his part would precipitate a tragedy.
"I laughed at Jerry and the wild dogs that chased him around and around, but never again for me!" he gasped, as he kept up the weary circle, hugging the trunk as closely as possible.