Hunting in Many Lands 



Our stock of fresh meat was getting low 

 and we were anxious to shoot something; but 

 in the early hours of the afternoon we saw no 

 game. Small parties of horned larks ran along 

 the ground ahead of the wagon, twittering 

 plaintively as they rose, and occasional flocks 

 of longspurs flew hither and thither; but of 

 larger life we saw nothing, save occasional 

 bands of range horses. The drought had been 

 very severe and we were far from the river, so 

 that we saw no horned stock. Horses can 

 travel much further to water than cattle, and, 

 when the springs dry up, they stay much 

 further out on the prairie. 



At last we did see a band of four antelope, 

 lying in the middle of a wide plain, but they 

 saw us before we saw them, and the ground 

 was so barren of cover that it was impossible 

 to get near them. Moreover, they were very 

 shy and ran almost as soon as we got our eyes 

 on them. For an hour or two after this we 

 jogged along without seeing anything, while 

 the gray clouds piled up in the west and the 

 afternoon began to darken ; then, just after 

 passing Saddle Butte, we struck a rough prai- 

 rie road, which we knew led to the P. K. ranch 

 — a road very faint in places, while in others 



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