Old Times in the Black Hills 



Leaving "Coffee" in the valley, I decided 

 to give up antelope and take my chances 

 on deer and sheep on the mountain-side. 

 When about winded from my exertions, I 

 dropped upon a fallen pine, somewhat dis- 

 gusted with my ill luck. Presently I heard 

 the distinct bark of a deer very close to me. 

 Peering cautiously from behind a huge gran- 

 ite boulder that obstructed my view ahead, 

 my heart beat faster in an incipient buck- 

 fever, for not sixty yards from me, on a small 

 plateau, stood a big buck, while at his feet 

 lay a doe. His head was slightly turned to- 

 ward me, his nostrils were quivering and dis- 

 tended, and he looked as if prepared to 

 bound away. He was evidently alarmed by 

 the noise of the dogs I had left in the canon, 

 which were now making their way up the 

 steep sides of the mountain. He seemed ut- 

 terly oblivious of my presence; and there was 

 a. look of proud defiance in his eye that gave 

 him a most noble, majestic appearance as he 

 stood impatiently striking the hard ground 

 with his fore foot. I had long been anxious 

 to kill two deer with one shot, a feat I had 

 twice seen accomplished by others, so I 



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