146 TEN DAYS IN MONTANA. 



afternoon coming in from the railroad work on the Yellow- 

 stone river, both of whom reported having seen several small 

 herds of buffaloes along the trail in the forenoon. They 

 reported one herd within fifteen miles of where we then were, 

 and thought we would be very likely to strike them before 

 night. But night drew on and no buffaloes had been sighted 

 by our horsemen, nor had they even succeeded in bagging an 

 antelope. We began to think we should be without fresh meat 

 for supper and breakfast, but just as the sun was sinking behind 

 the hills we heard a shot away off to the right, and ten minutes 

 later the Major came up to the column with a fine young 

 antelope swinging from the pommel of his saddle. 



We went into camp at the head of Beaver Creek, twenty- 

 seven miles from camp Mclntosh, at six o'clock, put up our 

 tents, our Sibley heating stoves in them, collected a supply of 

 dry wood, and made fires that heated the large wall tents as 

 hot as we wanted them. While we were doing this, Mugler, 

 the Major's cook, had set up his cookstove and prepared a 

 supper that made us all feel glad we enlisted. As we partook 

 of the juicy and delicate antelope steak the Major spoke of 

 the great amount of vitality this animal possesses of the 

 amount of shooting it takes to kill it. He said he once shot 

 one through the heart and it ran a hundred yards before it 

 fell; that he cut it open and examined its heart, and the 

 bullet had passed directly through the center of it, tearing a 

 hole nearly an inch in diameter. He said he shot another 

 one that stood with its tail toward him. The ball cut off one 

 hind leg and then entered its flank, cutting a long slit and 

 letting a large portion of its entrails out, ranged forward, and 

 cut its liver all to pieces ; that after all this it ran two hundred 

 yards, and that nearly as fast as his horse could run. He says 

 he considers them the hardest animal to kill that there is on 

 the plains, except the buffalo and grizzly. 



