266 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



of us who followed the hounds never stopped 

 while the chase was on. The antelopes did not 

 hold to a straight course and we saved many 

 yards by taking the chord of the arc of their line 

 of flight. The prairie spread out before us, car- 

 peted with short buffalo grass, with only slight 

 rolls between us and the horizon. There was an 

 occasional little arroya over which the ponies 

 leaped, or a larger one down and up which they 

 scrambled while I clutched the saddle and hap- 

 pily was not thrown, while the Comanches rid- 

 ing without saddle or bridle could no more have 

 been separated from their steeds than the human 

 half of a centaur could have fallen from the 

 equine legs. The ponies needed no urging, yet 

 the quirt was sometimes used as when two In- 

 dians, racing neck and neck, tried to forge ahead 

 of each other. On one such occasion when Tave- 

 tossa had beaten Onawia (Gap-in-the-salt), the 

 latter challenged the former to a regular race 

 after camp had been made that evening. 



To one who doubted the Indian's sense of hu- 

 mor the gravity of Tavetossa's demeanor as he 



