Hunting with Hoimds. 365 



quently the dogs themselves were more or less scratched 

 in the contests. Some greyhounds, even of high breed- 

 ing, proved absolutely useless from timidity, being afraid 

 to take hold ; but if they got accustomed to the chase, 

 being worked with old dogs, and had any pluck at all, 

 they proved singularly fearless. A big ninety-pound 

 greyhound or Scotch deer-hound is a very formidable fight- 

 ing dog ; I saw one whip a big mastiff in short order, his 

 wonderful agility being of more account than his adver- 

 sary's superior weight. 



The proper way to course, however, is to take the 

 dogs out in a wagon and drive them thus until the game 

 is seen. This prevents their being tired out. In my own 

 hunting, most of the antelope aroused got away, the dogs 

 being jaded when the chase began. But really fine grey- 

 hounds, accustomed to work together and to hunt this 

 species of game, will usually render a good account of a 

 prong-buck if two or three are slipped at once, fresh, and 

 within a moderate distance. 



Although most Westerners take more kindly to the 

 rifle, now and then one is found who is a devotee of the 

 hound. Such a one was an old Missourian, who may be 

 called Mr. Cowley, whom I knew when he was living on 

 a ranch in North Dakota, west of the Missouri. Mr. 

 Cowley was a primitive person, of much nerve, which he 

 showed not only in the hunting field but in the startling 

 political conventions of the place and period. He was 

 quite well off, but he was above the niceties of personal 

 vanity. His hunting garb was that in which he also paid 

 his rare formal calls — calls throughout which he always 



