ON THE PRAIRIE 85 



to climb, and certainly follow wherever their 

 ciders lead. Time and again one will rush 

 over a cliff to what appears certain death, 

 and will gallop away from the bottom un- 

 harmed. Their perfect self-confidence seems 

 to be justified, however, for they never slip 

 or make a misstep, even on the narrowest 

 ledges when covered with ice and snow. And 

 all their marvellous jumping and climbing is 

 done with an apparent ease that renders it 

 the more wonderful. Rapid though the 

 movements of one are they are made without 

 any of the nervous hurry so characteristic of 

 the antelopes and smaller deer ; the on-looker 

 is really as much impressed with the animal's 

 sinewy power and self-command as with his 

 agility. His strength and his self-reliance 

 seem to fit him above all other kinds of game 

 to battle with the elements and with his brute 

 foes; he does not care to have the rough 

 ways of his life made smooth; were his 

 choice free his abode would still be the vast 

 and lonely wilderness in which he is found. 

 To him the barren wastes of the Bad Lands 



