ON THE PRAIRIE 21 



petto) ; they had strayed away from the 

 prairie to the river bottom, and were evi- 

 dently feeling lost. My two men did not 

 think much of the matter but when opposite 

 the mouth of the wash-out, which was only 

 thirty feet or so wide, they saw the two an- 

 telopes starting to come out, having found 

 that it was a blind passage, with no outlet 

 at the other end. Both men jumped out of 

 the buck-board and ran to the entrance ; the 

 two antelope dashed frantically to and fro 

 inside the wash-out. The sides were steep, 

 but a deer would have scaled them at once ; 

 yet the antelope seemed utterly unable to do 

 this, and finally broke out past the two men 

 and got away. They came so close that the 

 men were able to touch each of thfcm, but 

 their movements were too quick to permit of 

 their being caught. 



However, though unable to leap any 

 height, an antelope can skim across a level 

 jump like a bird, and will go over water- 

 courses and wash-outs that very few horses 

 indeed will face. A mountain-sheep, on the 



