46 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



try, and began to keep a sharp lookout for 

 game, riding parallel to, but some little dis- 

 tance from, one another. The sun, beating 

 down through the clear air, was very hot ; the 

 brown slopes of short grass, and "still more 

 the white clay walls of the Bad Lands, threw 

 the heat rays in our faces. We skirted 

 closely all likely-looking spots, such as the 

 heavy brush-patches in the bottoms of the 

 winding valleys, and the groves of ash and 

 elm in the basins and pockets flanking the 

 high plateaus ; sometimes we followed a cat- 

 tle trail which ran down the middle of a big 

 washout, and again we rode along the brink 

 of a deep cedar canyon. After a while we 

 came to a coulie with a small muddy pool at 

 its mouth ; and round this pool there was 

 much fresh deer sign. The coulie was but 

 half a mile long, heading into and flanked by 

 the spurs of some steep, bare hills. Its bot- 

 tom, which was fifty yards or so across, was 

 choked by a dense growth of brush, chiefly 

 thorny bullberries, while the sides were formed 

 by cut banks twelve or fifteen feet high. 

 My companion rode up the middle, while I 

 scrambled up one of the banks, and, dis- 

 mounting, led my horse along its edge, that 

 I might have a clear shot at whatever we 

 roused. We went nearly to the head, and 

 then the cowboy reined up and shouted to 

 me that he "guessed there were no deer in the 

 coulie." Instantly there was a smashing in 

 the young trees midway between us, and I 

 caught a glimpse of a blacktail buck speeding 

 round a shoulder of the cut bank : and though 

 I took a hurried shot I missed. However, 



