ON THE PRAIRIE 43 



I sat up by a sage-brush thinking they would 

 of course not come back, when to my sur- 

 prise I saw them wheel round with the pre- 

 cision of a cavalry squadron, all in line and 

 fronting me, the white and brown markings 

 on their heads and throats showing like the 

 facings on soldiers' uniforms ; and then back 

 they came charging up till again within long 

 range, when they wheeled their line as if on 

 a pivot and once more made off, this time for 

 good, not heeding an ineffectual fusillade 

 from the Winchester. Antelope often go 

 through a series of regular evolutions, like 

 so many trained horsemen, wheeling, turn- 

 ing, halting, and running as if under com- 

 mand ; and their coming back to again run 

 the (as it proved very harmless) gauntlet of 

 my fire was due either to curiosity or to one 

 of those panicky freaks which occasionally 

 seize those ordinarily wary animals, and 

 cause them to run into danger easily avoided 

 by creatures commonly much more readily 

 approached than they are. I had fired half 

 a dozen shots without effect; but while no 



