Hunting in the Cattle Country 



the wheels had sunk deep in the ground and 

 made long, parallel ruts. 



Almost immediately after striking this road, 

 on topping a small rise, we discovered a young 

 prongbuck standing off a couple of hundred 

 yards to one side, gazing at the wagon with 

 that absorbed curiosity which in this game so 

 often conquers its extreme wariness and timid- 

 ity, to a certain extent offsetting the advan- 

 tage conferred upon it by its marvelous vision. 

 The little antelope stood broadside, too, gaz- 

 ing at us out of its great bulging eyes, the 

 sharply contrasted browns and whites of its 

 coat showing plainly. Lambert and I leaped 

 off our horses immediately, and I knelt and 

 pulled the trigger ; but the cartridge snapped, 

 and the little buck, wheeling around, cantered 

 off, the white hairs on its rump all erect, as 

 is always the case with the pronghorn when 

 under the influence of fear or excitement. My 

 companion took a hasty, running shot, with no 

 more effect than changing the canter into a 

 breakneck gallop ; and, though we opened on 

 it as it ran, it went unharmed over the crest of 

 rising ground in front. We ran after it as 

 hard as we could pelt up the hill, into a slight 

 valley, and then up another rise, and again got 



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