Oil the Cattle Ranees. 6 



o 



of shelter yielded by little inequalities of ground. In this 

 instance a small shallow watercourse, entirely dry, ran along- 

 the valley, and after much study I decided to try to crawl 

 up it, although the big bulging telescopic eyes of the 

 prong-buck — which have much keener sight than deer 

 or any other game — would in such case be pointed directly 

 my way. 



Having made up my mind I backed cautiously down 

 from the coien of vantac^e whence I had first seen the 

 ofame, and ran about a mile to the mouth of a washout 

 which formed the continuation of the watercourse in 

 question. Protected by the high clay banks of this wash- 

 out I was able to walk upright until within half a mile of 

 the prong-bucks ; then my progress became very tedious 

 and toilsome, as I had to work my way up the water- 

 course flat on my stomach, dragging the rifle beside me. 

 At last I reached a spot beyond which not even a snake 

 could crawl unnoticed. In front was alow bank, a couple 

 of feet high, crested with tufts of coarse grass. Raising 

 my head very cautiously I peered through these and saw 

 the prong-horn about a hundred and fifty yards distant. 

 At the same time I found that I had crawled to the edg-e 

 of a village of prairie dogs, which had already made me 

 aware of their presence by their shrill yelping. They 

 saw me at once ; and all those away from their homes 

 scuttled towards them, and dived down the burrows, or 

 sat on^the mounds at the entrances, scolding convulsively 

 and jerking their fat little bodies and short tails. This 

 commotion at once attracted the attention of the antelope. 

 They rose forthwith, and immediately caught a glimpse 



