Hunting in the Cattle Country 



selves to ride off to one side and try to pick up 

 another antelope. However, the Sheriff took 

 the wrong turn after getting to the divide, and 

 struck the river bottom some fifteen miles out 

 of his way, so that we reached the ranch a 

 good many hours before he did. 



When we left the wagon we galloped straight 

 across country, looking out from the divide 

 across the great rolling landscape, every fea- 

 ture standing clear through the frosty air. 

 Hour after hour we galloped on and on over 

 the grassy seas in the glorious morning. Once 

 we stopped, and I held the horses while Lam- 

 bert stalked and shot a fine prongbuck; then 

 we tied his head and hams to our saddles and 

 again pressed forward along the divide. We 

 had hoped to get lunch at a spring that I 

 knew of some twelve miles from my ranch, 

 but when we reached it we found it dry and 

 went on without halting. Early in the after- 

 noon we came out on the broad, tree-clad bot- 

 tom on which the ranch house stands, and, 

 threading our way along the cattle trails, soon 

 drew up in front of the gray, empty buildings. 



Just as we were leaving the hunting grounds 

 on this trip, after having killed all the game 

 we felt we had a right to kill, we encountered 



289 



