158 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



vivors of his old pack are literally seamed all 

 over with the scars of innumerable battles. 

 When several dogs were together they would 

 stop a bull-elk, and fearlessly assail a bear or 

 cougar. This pack scored many a triumph 

 over blacktail, whitetail, and prong-buck. 

 For a few hundred yards the deer were very 

 fast ; but in a run of any duration the ante- 

 lope showed much greater speed, and gave the 

 dogs far more trouble, although always over- 

 taken in the end, if a good start had been 

 obtained. Col. Williams is a firm believer in 

 the power of the thoroughbred horse to out- 

 turn any animal that breathes, in a long chase ; 

 he has not infrequently run down deer, when 

 they were jumped some miles from cover ; 

 and on two or three occasions he ran down 

 uninjured antelope, but in each case only after 

 a desperate ride of miles, which in one in- 

 stance resulted in the death of his gallant 

 horse. 



This coursing on the prairie, especially 

 after big game, is an exceedingly manly and 

 attractive sport ; the furious galloping, often 

 over rough ground with an occasional deep 

 washout or gully, the sight of the gallant 

 hounds running and tackling, and the exhilar- 

 ation of the pure air and wild surrounding, all 

 combine to give it a peculiar zest. But there 

 is really less need of bold and skilful horse- 

 manship than in the otherwise less attractive 

 and more artificial sport of fox-hunting, or 

 riding to hounds, in a closed and long-settled 

 country. 



