AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 203 



never know what hurt you;" and resting the muzzle 

 of the rifle on the rock, I took a fine, steady aim for 

 his heart and turned the bullet loose. There was a 

 terrific roar; the lead tore up a cloud of dust and 

 went screaming away over the hills, while, to my 

 utter astonishment, the antelope went sailing across 

 the prairie with the speed of a greyhound. I sprang 

 to my feet, pumped lead after him at a lively rate, 

 and, though I tore the ground up all around him, 

 never touched a hair. And what annoyed me most 

 was that, owing to some peculiar condition of the 

 atmosphere, the smoke of each shot hung in front of 

 me long enough to prevent me from seeing just 

 where my bullets struck, and, for the life of me, I 

 could not tell whether I was shooting over or under 

 the game! 



I went back over the hill to my horse, with my 

 heart full of disappointment and my magazine only 

 half full of cartridges. I loaded up, however, 

 mounted, and, as I rode away in search of more 

 game, I could occasionally hear the almost whis- 

 pered "puff, puff" of Fishel 1 s and Thomas's rifles 

 away to the south and west, which brought me the 

 cheering assurance that they were also having fun, 

 and also assured me that we should not be without 

 meat for supper and breakfast. 



I soon sighted a band of about thirty antelopes, 

 and riding into a coulee dismounted, picketed my 

 horse, and began another crawl. In due time I 

 reached the desired "stand," within about eighty 

 yards of them, and, picking out the finest buck in 

 the bunch, again took a careful, deliberate aim and 

 fired, scoring another clear miss. The band, 



