Deer of the River Bottoms. 105 



blasts of the winter gales ; but if by any accident caught 

 out on the open prairie in a blizzard, a herd will drift 

 before it for maybe more than a hundred miles, until it 

 finds a shelter capable of holding it. For this reason 

 it is best to keep more or less of a look-out over all the 

 bunches of beasts, riding about among them every few 

 days, and turning back any herd that begins to straggle 

 toward the open plains ; though in winter, when weak 

 and emaciated, the cattle must be disturbed and driven as 

 little as possible, or the loss among them will be fearful. 

 One afternoon, while most of us were away from the 

 ranch-house, one of the cowboys, riding in from his day's 

 outing over the range, brought word that he had seen two 

 white-tail deer, a buck and a doe, feeding with some cattle 

 on the side of a hill across the river, and not much more 

 than half a mile from the house. There was about an 

 hour of daylight left, and one of the foremen, a tall, fine- 

 looking fellow named Ferris, the best rider on the ranch 

 but not an unusually good shot, started out at once after 

 the deer ; for in the late fall and early winter we generally 

 kill a good deal of game, as it then keeps well and serves 

 as a food supply throughout the cold months ; after Janu- 

 ary we hunt as little as possible. Ferris found the deer 

 easily enough, but they started before he could get a 

 standing shot at them, and when he fired as they ran, he 

 only broke one of the buck's hind legs, just above the 

 ankle. He followed it in the snow for several miles, 

 across the river, and down near the house to the end of the 

 bottom, and then back toward the house. The buck was 

 a cunning old beast, keeping in the densest cover, and 



