HUNTING IN CATTLE COUNTRY 179 



smart chase on horseback, and the other two after careful 

 stalks; and I missed two running shots. 



The game being both scarce and shy, I had to exer- 

 cise much care, and after sighting a band I would some- 

 times have to wait and crawl round for two or three hours 

 before they would get into a position where I had any 

 chance of approaching. Even then they were more apt 

 to see me and go off than I was to get near them. 



Antelope are the only game that can be hunted as 

 well at noonday as in the morning or evening, for their 

 times for sleeping and feeding are irregular. They never 

 seek shelter from the sun, and when they lie down for a 

 noonday nap they are apt to choose a hollow, so as to be 

 out of the wind; in consequence, if the band is seen at all 

 at this time, it is easier to approach them than when they 

 are up and feeding. They sometimes come down to water 

 in the middle of the day, sometimes in the morning or 

 evening. On this trip I came across bands feeding and 

 resting at almost every hour of the day. They seemed 

 usually to rest for a couple of hours, then began feeding 

 again. 



The last shot I got was when I was out with Joe Fer- 

 ris, in whose company I had killed my first buffalo, just 

 thirteen years before, and not very far from this same 

 spot. We had seen two or three bands that morning, 

 and in each case, after a couple of hours of useless effort, 

 I failed to get near enough. At last, toward midday, 

 after riding and tramping over a vast extent of broken 

 sun-scorched country, we got within range of a small 

 band lying down in a little cup-shaped hollow in the 



