A Trip on the Prairie 223 



with which a deer runs. At last the two leading 

 animals crossed the line of my flight ahead of me; 

 when I pulled short up, leaped from Manitou's back, 

 and blazed into the band as they went by not forty 

 yards off, aiming well ahead of a fine buck who was 

 on the side nearest me. An antelope's gait is so 

 even that it offers a good running mark ; and as the 

 smoke blew off I saw the buck roll over like a rab- 

 bit, with both shoulders broken. I then emptied the 

 Winchester at the rest of the band, breaking one 

 hind leg of a young buck. Hastily cutting the throat 

 of, and opening, the dead buck, I again mounted and 

 started off after the wounded one. But, though only 

 on three legs, it went astonishingly fast, having had 

 a good start; and after following it over a mile I 

 gave up the pursuit, though I had gained a good 

 deal; for the heat was very great, and I did not 

 deem it well to tire the horse at the beginning of 

 the trip. Returning to the carcass, I cut off the 

 hams and strung them beside the saddle; an ante- 

 lope is so spare that there is very little more meat on 

 the body. 



This trick of running in a straight line is another 

 of the antelope's peculiar characteristics which fre- 

 quently lead it into danger. Although with so 

 much sharper eyes than a deer, antelope are in many 

 ways far stupider animals, more like sheep, and 

 they especially resemble the latter in their habit of 

 following a leader, and in their foolish obstinacy in 

 keeping to a course they have once adopted. If a 

 horseman starts to head off a deer the latter will 



