ao8 HUNTING TRIPS 



After supper, looking at the worn-out 

 condition of the team, we realized that it 

 would take three more days travelling at 

 the rate we had been going to bring us in, 

 and as the country was monotonous, with- 

 out much game, we concluded we would 

 leave the wagon with the driver, and taking 

 advantage of the full moon, push through 

 the whole distance before breakfast next 

 morning. Accordingly, we at nine o'clock 

 again saddled the tough little ponies we had 

 ridden all day and loped off out of the circle 

 at firelight. For nine hours we rode 

 steadily, generally at a quick lope, across the 

 moon-lit prairie. The hoof-beats of our 

 horses rang out in steady rhythm through 

 the silence of the night, otherwise unbroken 

 save now and then by the wailing cry of a 

 coyote. The rolling plains stretched out on 

 all sides of us, shimmering in the dear 

 moonlight ; and occasionally a band of spec- 

 tral-looking antelope swept silently away 

 from before our path. Once we went by a 

 drove of Texan cattle, who stared wildly at 



