HUNTING IN CATTLE COUNTRY 155 



in favorable places for slipping the hounds. I remember 

 one such chase in particular. We had at the time a mixed 

 pack, in which there was only one dog of my own, the 

 others being contributed from various sources. It in- 

 cluded two greyhounds, a rough-coated deerhound, a fox- 

 hound, and the fawn-colored cross-bred mentioned above. 

 We rode out in the early morning, the dogs trotting 

 behind us; and, coming to a low tract of rolling hills, 

 just at the edge of the great prairie, we separated and 

 rode over the crest of the nearest ridge. Just as we topped 

 it, a fine buck leaped up from a hollow a hundred yards 

 off, and turned to look at us for a moment. All the dogs 

 were instantly spinning toward him down the grassy 

 slope. He apparently saw those at the right, and, turn- 

 ing, raced away from us in a diagonal line, so that the 

 left-hand greyhound, which ran cunning and tried to 

 cut him off, was very soon almost alongside. He saw her, 

 however she was a very fast bitch just in time, and, 

 wheeling, altered his course to the right. As he reached 

 the edge of the prairie, this alteration nearly brought him 

 in contact with the cross-bred, which had obtained a rather 

 poor start, on the extreme right of the line. Around went 

 the buck again, evidently panic-struck and puzzled to 

 the last degree, and started straight off across the prairie, 

 the dogs literally at his heels, and we, urging our horses 

 with whip and spur, but a couple of hundred yards be- 

 hind. For half a mile the pace was tremendous, when 

 one of the greyhounds made a spring at his ear, but fail- 

 ing to make good his hold, was thrown off. However, 

 it halted the buck for a moment, and made him turn 



