Hunting the Prong-Buck 105 



we started toward the line of fire, which was work 

 ing across a row of broken grassy hills, three-quar 

 ters of a mile distant. Two of us were on horse 

 back, dragging a half carcass, bloody side down, by 

 means of ropes leading from our saddle-horns to the 

 fore and hind legs; the other two followed on foot 

 with slickers and wet saddle blankets. There was 

 a reddish glow in the night air, and the waving, 

 bending lines of flame showed in great bright curves 

 against the hillside ahead of us. 



When we reached them, we found the fire burning 

 in a long, continuous line. It was not making rapid 

 headway, for the air was still, and the flames stood 

 upright, two or three feet high. Lengthening the 

 ropes, one of us spurred his horse across the fire 

 line and then, wheeling, we dragged the carcass 

 along it; one horseman being on the burnt ground, 

 and one on the unburnt grass, while the body of the 

 steer lay lengthwise across the line. The weight and 

 the blood smothered the fire as we twitched the car 

 cass over the burning grass; and the two men fol 

 lowing behind with their blankets and slickers read 

 ily beat out any isolated tufts of flame. 



The fire made the horses wild, and it was not 

 always easy to manage both them and the ropes, so 

 as to keep the carcass true on the line. Sometimes 

 there would be a slight puff of wind, and then the 

 man on the grass side of the line ran the risk of 

 a scorching. We w r ere blackened w r ith smoke, and 



