AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 209 



by a horn and held him till I came up and cut the 

 little fellow's throat. Then Sam said that was a 

 very long shot, and he would like to know just what 

 the distance was. He went back to where I stood 

 when I shot, stepped the distance to where the 

 antelope stood, and found it to be 362 paces. 



We rode on a mile further and saw a young ante- 

 lope lying down in some tall rye-grass. We could 

 just see his horns and ears, and though he appeared 

 to be looking at us he seemed to think himself 

 securely hidden, for he made no movement toward 

 getting up. I told Sam to shoot this time, but he 

 said, "No, you shoot. I live in this country and 

 can get all the shooting I want any time. You have 

 come a long way out here to have some fun. Turn 

 loose on him." And slipping off my horse I knelt 

 down to get a knee rest, but found that from that 

 position I could not see the game at all, and was 

 compelled to shoot off hand again. Raising up I 

 drew a bead on one of the horns, and then lowering 

 the muzzle to where I thought the body should be, 

 pressed the trigger. There was a lively commotion 

 in the grass, but the buck never got out of his bed. 

 The ball went in at one shoulder and out at the 

 opposite hip. On stepping the distance we found it 

 to be only 125 yards. 



And now, having in a measure wiped out the dis- 

 grace of the previous day's work and secured all the 

 meat, skins, and heads that our pack-mules could 

 carry, we returned to camp and the next day went 

 back to Fort Maginnis. 



These bright little creatures, though naturally 

 timid, sometimes show great courage in defense of 



14 



