On the Cattle Ranges 79 



it is to tell, even from nearby, whether a stalk can 

 or can not be made; the difficulty being to estimate 

 the exact amount of shelter yielded by little inequali- 

 ties of ground. In this instance a small, shallow 

 watercourse, entirely dry, ran along the valley, and 

 after much study I decided to try to crawl up it, al- 

 though the big bulging telescopic eyes of the prong- 

 buck which have much keener sight than deer or 

 any other game would in such case be pointed di- 

 rectly my way. 



Having made up my mind I backed cautiously 

 down from the coign of vantage whence I had first 

 seen the game, and ran about a mile to the mouth 

 of a washout which formed the continuation of the 

 watercourse in question. Protected by the high 

 clay banks of this washout I was able to walk up- 

 right until within half a mile of the prong-bucks; 

 then my progress became very tedious and toilsome, 

 as I had to work my way up the watercourse flat on 

 my stomach, dragging the rifle beside me. At last 

 I reached a spot beyond which not even a snake 

 could crawl unnoticed. In front was a low bank, a 

 couple of feet high, crested with tufts of coarse 

 grass. Raising my head very cautiously I peered 

 through these and saw the prong-horn about a hun- 

 dred and fifty yards distant. At the same time I 

 found that I had crawled to the edge of a village 

 of prairie dogs, which had already made me aware 

 of their presence by their shrill yelping. They 



