120 PRAIRIE AND FOREST, 



fast with the lariat to the cantle of the saddle. 

 Swinging myself into the pig- skin, congratulating 

 myself on the success of my stalk, for camp I headed, 

 and already had commenced in imagination to enjoy 

 a hearty meal on some of the tit-bits. Humming 

 possibly the old regimental march, and my thoughts 

 wandering to far-off scenes, I was surprised, on 

 issuing from a dip in the prairie, to see several 

 antelopes feeding undisturbed about a hundred and 

 fifty yards off. Throwing my head forward over the 

 saddle-tree, in a moment I was on my feet, and hur- 

 riedly hobbling my beast, I made a cast to the right to 

 obtain a better leeward position. Prairie-dog earths 

 were numerous, and apparently untenanted, or else the 

 whole population had turned in for their afternoon 

 siesta. These irregularities of the surface afforded an 

 abundance of shelter. A few minutes' crawling, and 1 

 was within easy range, when springing to my feet the 

 game commenced their succession of buck-jumps, 

 which they invariably practise before settling to their 

 regular stride. Pitching my gun to the shoulder, I 

 drew sight upon the leader ; over he went ; while my 

 second shot, fired too hurriedly, sent its bullet harm- 

 lessly ricochetting, its course being marked by a puff of 

 dust where the missile bounded each time it hit the soil. 

 The fall of the leader turned the remainder of the 

 flock, and with the velocity of falcons they rushed past 

 Broomstick ; up went his tail and down went his 

 head ; half-a-dozen violent struggles, and the hobbling 

 broke. For a moment he stood, then threw his mane 

 recklessly about, turned round and gave his dead load 

 a sniff, and breaking into a succession of buck-jumps, 

 finishing with a shower of kicks, divested himself 



