We finally reached the summit of the chasm, and entered a pine forest, where the antlered monarchs of the mountains were supposed to reign; but after walking for half an hour, we failed to find any of them. Meanwhile the clouds poured down a shower that wet us to the skin, and as it froze as it fell, we were almost benumbed with cold. We trudged onward, however, and trod as lightly on the crackling bushes as if they were eggs, and deer were concealed in every leaf.
Walking as carefully as we could, we peered into every bush for the large black eyes of our intended victims. When we reached a coppice of trees that skirted a thread-like brook, my companion stopped suddenly, and pointed ahead. Looking in the direction indicated, I saw a group of deer partially hidden in dense shrubbery. The leader of the party, a magnificent stag, held his head proudly erect, and listened attentively for the footsteps of a foe, while the dear little ladies of his family daintily nibbled at some tender leaves, feeling safe under his powerful protection.
The hunter fired at the stag so quickly that the whole band had disappeared amid a shower of leaves before I thought of lifting my rifle.
"Hit," was all my companion said as he dashed after the fugitives. I followed him, but I was soon left so far in the rear that I could neither see nor hear him.
Not liking the idea of being left alone, I kept running aimlessly on. I wanted to shout for him, but dared not; so I wandered hither and thither. I crossed one cañon, and was about to recross it, when I heard a shot on the opposite side. Looking in that direction, I saw the hunter, rifle in hand, standing over the prostrate form of the stag. I was about to join him, when I was astounded by seeing the apparently dead animal spring to its feet, charge the hunter in the most desperate manner, knock him down, and stamp on him. The assailed man responded to this challenge by drawing his knife, and plunging it into the neck of his assailant. I was so stupefied at the attack that I looked on for some time before I realized the danger of the situation; but when I recovered my wits I hastened to my friend's assistance. It took me some time to reach him, and when I did, I found him and the deer lying on the ground close together. The latter was dead, and the hunter seemed to be, for his clothes were badly torn, he was covered with blood, and the ground for a radius of several yards was trampled as if a band of gladiators had been using it for a battle-ground.
On examining my friend I found that he was wounded in the chest, arms, and legs, and completely exhausted by the struggle. I gave him a drink of water, which so revived him that he was soon able to sit up and tell me of his terrible struggle for life. It was, it seems, up to the last moment a question which would prove the victor, for whatever advantage his knife gave the hunter was more than counterbalanced by the powerful antlers of his assailant, which were used in the most effective manner. The hunter was about giving up the struggle, from exhaustion, when, by a lucky blow, he cut the jugular vein of his adversary, and both fell almost together.
When he finished his description of the contest, I led him to the stream, where his wounds were washed. Finding after a while that he was strong enough to walk, we returned to camp, leaving the slain animal as food for carnivorous birds and beasts. We staid in camp that night, and returned to his home the next day, where he received such primitive treatment as his half-breed wife could give him. From the nearest railway station I sent him bandages and medicines by a messenger. I have since learned that he was confined to the house for several months, and that it was only his splendid constitution which enabled him to recover. But he is only a wreck of what he was, and is totally unfit to follow his former arduous profession. Such are some of the pleasures of the chase.