Hunting the Prong-Buck in 



sand, or in crossing a swollen river, and have had 

 to work hard to save him, I have never myself lost 

 one under such circumstances. Yet once I saw the 

 horse of one of my men drown under him directly 

 in front of the ranch house, while he was trying to 

 cross the river. This was in early spring, soon after 

 the ice had broken. 



When making long wagon trips over the great 

 plains, antelope often offer the only source of meat 

 supply, save for occasional water fowl, sage fowl, 

 and prairie fowl the sharp-tailed prairie fowl, be 

 it understood. This is the characteristic grouse of 

 the cattle country; the true prairie fowl is a bird of 

 the farming land further east. 



Toward the end of the summer of '92 I found it 

 necessary to travel from my ranch to the Black Hills, 

 some two hundred miles south. The ranch wagon 

 went with me, driven by an all-round plainsman, a 

 man of iron nerves and varied past, the sheriff of 

 our county. He was an old friend of mine ; at one 

 time I had served as deputy-sheriff for the northern 

 end of the county. In the wagon we carried our 

 food and camp kit, and our three rolls of bedding, 

 each wrapped in a thick, nearly waterproof canvas 

 sheet; we had a tent, but we never needed it. The 

 load being light, the wagon was drawn by but a 

 span of horses, a pair of wild runaways, tough, and 

 good travelers. My foreman and I rode beside the 

 wagon on our wiry, unkempt, unshod cattle-ponies. 



