70 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE CATTLE RANGES ; THE PRONG-HORN 



ANTELOPE. 



EARLY one June just after the close of the 

 regular spring round-up, a couple of 

 wagons, with a score of riders between them, 

 were sent to work some hitherto untouched 

 country, between the Little Missouri and the 

 Yellowstone. I was to go as the representa- 

 tive of our own and of one or two neighbor- 

 ing brands ; but as the round-up had halted 

 near my ranch I determined to spend a day 

 there, and then to join the wagons ; the ap- 

 pointed meeting-place being a cluster of red 

 scoria buttes, some forty miles distant, where 

 there was a spring of good water. 



Most of my day at the ranch was spent in 

 slumber; for I had been several weeks on 

 the round-up, where nobody ever gets quite 

 enough sleep. This is the only drawback to 

 the work ; otherwise it is pleasant and excit- 

 ing, with just that slight touch of danger nec- 

 essary to give it zest, and without the wear- 

 ing fatigue of such labor as lumbering or min- 

 ing. But there is never enough sleep, at least 

 on the spring and mid-summer round-ups. 

 The men are in the saddle from dawn until 

 dusk, at the time when the days are longest 

 on these great northern plains ; and in addi- 



