200 HUNTING TRIPS 



to the edge of a deep wash-out, scrambled 

 into it at the risk of our necks, and huddled 

 up with our horses underneath the wind- 

 ward bank. Here we remained pretty \\vll 

 sheltered until the storm was over. Although 

 it was August, the air became very cold. 

 The wagon was fairly caught, and would 

 have been blown over if the top had been 

 on; the driver and horses escaped without 

 injury, pressing under the leeward side, the 

 storm coming so level that they did not need 

 a roof to protect them from the hail. Where 

 the centre of the whirlwind struck it did 

 great damage, sheets of hailstones as large 

 as pigeons' eggs striking the earth with the 

 velocity of bullets; next day the hailstones 

 could have been gathered up by the bushel 

 from the heaps that lay in the bottom of the 

 gullies and ravines. One of my cowboys 

 was out in the storm, during whose continu- 

 ance he crouched under his horse's belly ; 

 coming home he came across some antelope 

 so numb and stiffened that they could barely 

 limp out of the way. 



