44 HUNTING TRIPS 



one ever gets over his feeling of self-indig- 

 nation at missing an easy shot at close quar- 

 ters, any one who hunts antelope and is not 

 of a disposition so timid as never to take 

 chances, soon learns that he has to expect to 

 expend a good deal of powder and lead be- 

 fore bagging his game. 



By mid-day we reached a dry creek and 

 followed up its course for a mile or so, till 

 a small spot of green in the side of a bank 

 showed the presence of water, a little pool 

 of which lay underneath. The ground was 

 so rotten that it was with difficulty I could 

 get Manitou down where he could drink; 

 but at last both of us satisfied our thirst, and 

 he was turned loose to graze, with his saddle 

 off, so as to cool his back, and I, after eat- 

 ing a biscuit, lay on my face on the ground 

 there was no shade of any sort near and 

 dozed until a couple of hours' rest and feed 

 had put the horse in good trim for the after- 

 noon ride. When it came to crossing over 

 the dry creek on whose bank we had rested, 

 we almost went down in a quicksand, and it 



