198 GAME. 



well occasionally to recollect that he may do very badly. 1 

 And here, by-the-bye, on behalf of sportsmen, I protest 

 against the general disposition to take hunting stories 

 cum grano salis, and to laugh at that trait of the 

 sportsman which induces him to relate only the most 

 remarkable of his experiences. This is the most natural 

 thing in the world, and is true not only of the sportsman 

 but of all men. The most hum-drum business man would 

 not be likely to speak of the daily recurring details of 

 his business ; but let him make a specially good bargain, or 

 have a counterfeit bill passed on him, and his confidant 

 will assuredly have the story in all its details. When the 

 sportsman has bagged his thousands or even hundreds of 

 heads of game, the adding of another is of little conse- 

 quence, and not likely to be remembered unless its acqui- 

 sition was accompained by an experience out of the 

 common. It is not the every-day experiences which 

 make an impression. Memory refuses to take note of 

 the commonplace, and records only those experiences 

 which are marked by something unusual, of good or ill, 

 of fortune or of misfortune. 



Another peculiarity of the antelope is his apparent 

 inability to connect sound with clanger. The striking of 

 a bullet on the hard, dry prairie always knocks up more 

 or less dust ; and the antelope, instead of running away 

 from the sound of the gun, runs from the dust made by 

 the bullet. I have frequently taken advantage of this 

 trait, and when a herd, entrenched in an expanse of level 

 prairie, was too far off for anything but the merest chance 

 shot, I have, by causing my bullets to strike the ground 

 beyond, driven them in a panic to within fair distance 

 for a shot, and have bagged one or more. On one 

 occasion I stalked a large herd feeding in an open glade, 

 surrounded by rocks and cedar thickets. Unable to 



1 The author is an admirable shot at antelope and other game. I have 

 seen him kill with right and left shots two antelopes running in opposite 

 directions, at a distance of 300 yards. 



