Coursing the Prongbuck 



some of the latter were very good. I can re- 

 call in particular one fawn-colored beast, a 

 cross between a greyhound and a foxhound, 

 which ran nearly as fast as the former, though 

 it occasionally yelped in shrill tones. It could 

 also trail well, and was thoroughly game; on 

 one occasion it ran down and killed a coyote 

 single-handed. 



On going out with these dogs, I rarely 

 chose a day when I was actually in need of 

 fresh meat. If this was the case, I usually 

 went alone with the rifle; but if one or two 

 other men were at the ranch, and we wanted 

 a morning's fun, we would often summon the 

 dogs, mount our horses, and go trooping out 

 to the antelope-ground. As there was a 

 good deer-country between the ranch bot- 

 tom and the plains where we found the 

 prongbuck, it not infrequently happened that 

 we had a chase after blacktail or whitetail on 

 the way. Moreover, when we got out to the 

 ground, before sighting antelope, it frequently 

 happened that the dogs would jump a jack- 

 rabbit or a fox, and away the whole set 

 would go after it, streaking through the 

 short grass, sometimes catching their prey 

 135 



