A Trip on the Prairie 205 



of a washout (a canyon in petto) ; they had strayed 

 away from the prairie to the river bottom, and were 

 evidently feeling lost. My two men did not think 

 much of the matter, but when opposite the mouth of 

 the washout, which was only thirty feet or so wide, 

 they saw the two antelope starting to come out, 

 having found that it was a blind passage, with no 

 outlet at the other end. Both men jumped out of the 

 buckboard and ran to the entrance; the two ante 

 lope dashed frantically to and fro inside the wash 

 out. The sides were steep, but a deer would have 

 scaled them at once ; yet the antelope seemed utterly 

 unable to do this, and finally broke out past the two 

 men and got away. They came so close that the 

 men were able to touch each of them, but their 

 movements were too quick to permit of their being 

 caught. 



However, though unable to leap any height, an 

 antelope can skim across a level jump like a bird, 

 and will go over water-courses and washouts that 

 very few horses indeed will face. A mountain-sheep, 

 on the other hand, is a marvelous vertical leaper; 

 the black-tail deer comes next; the white-tail is 

 pretty good, and the elk is at any rate better than 

 the antelope; but when it comes to horizontal jump 

 ing the latter can beat them all. 



In May or early June the doe brings forth her 

 fawns, usually two in number, for she is very pro 

 lific. She makes her bed in some valley or hollow, 

 and keeps with the rest of the band, only return 

 ing to the fawns to feed them. They lie out in the 



