102 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



Finally there were Abernethy's dogs, which, together with 

 their master, performed the feats I shall hereafter relate. 

 Abernethy has a homestead of his own not far from Fred- 

 erick, and later I was introduced to his father, an old 

 Confederate soldier, and to his sweet and pretty wife, and 

 their five little children. He had run away with his wife 

 when they were nineteen and sixteen respectively; but the 

 match had turned out a happy one. Both were partic- 

 ularly fond of music, including the piano, horn, and vio- 

 lin, and they played duets together. General Young, 

 whom the Comanches called " War Bonnet," went in a 

 buggy with Burke Burnett, and as Burnett invariably 

 followed the hounds at full speed in his buggy, and 

 usually succeeded in seeing most of the chase, I felt that 

 the buggy men really encountered greater hazards than 

 anyone else. It was a thoroughly congenial company all 

 through. The weather was good ; we were in the saddle 

 from morning until night; and our camp was in all re- 

 spects all that a camp should be; so how could we help 

 enjoying ourselves? 



The coursing was done on the flats and great rolling 

 prairies which stretched north from our camp toward the 

 Wichita Mountains and south toward the Red River. 

 There was a certain element of risk in the gallops, be- 

 cause the whole country was one huge prairie-dog town, 

 the prairie-dogs being so numerous that the new towns 

 and the abandoned towns were continuous with one 

 another in every direction. Practically every run we 

 had was through these prairie-dog towns, varied occa- 

 sionally by creeks and washouts. But as we always ran 



