48 The King of the Thundering Herd 



go scurrying in like a flash. It is almost 

 impossible to shoot one and get him. Even 

 when mortally wounded, he will wriggle 

 into his hole. 



The prairie dog town is constantly en- 

 larged on the outside, and so in time the 

 holes at the heart of the town become de- 

 serted. The boys finally discovered that 

 these deserted holes were occupied by 

 queer little owls, who would stand by their 

 front doors winking and blinking in the 

 blazing sunlight. These empty dog-burrows 

 were also inhabited by rattlesnakes, whose 

 ugly lengths could be plainly seen through 

 the glass, coiled up basking in the sun- 

 light. 



There were also now many signs of the 

 buffalo : gleaming skulls and huge skele- 

 tons that told their sad story, as well as oc- 

 casionally a real live bison ; but of these I 

 will speak in the following chapter. 



Of birds there were not so many as there 



