230 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



having a good fire before my comrades returned. 

 Nor was I too soon, for already a coyotte had scented 

 blood, and was about to whet his sharp tusks on the 

 results of my labour. With considerable hoisting I 

 got both antelopes on my nag's rump, lashing them 

 fast with the lariat to the cantle of the saddle, but in 

 this performance I was not successful till I had blind- 

 folded my mount. Swinging myself into the pig-skin, 

 congratulating myself on the success of my stalk, for 

 camp I headed, and already had commenced in imagi- 

 nation 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 ante- 

 lopes feeding undisturbed about a hundred and fifty yards 

 off. Throwing my head forward over the saddletree, 

 in a moment I was on my feet, and hurriedly 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 popula- 

 tion had turned in for their afternoon siesta. These irre- 

 gularities of the surface afforded an abundance of shelter. 

 A few minutes' crawling, and I was within easy range, 

 when springing to my feet, the game commenced their 

 succession of buck-jumps, which they invariably prac- 

 tise before settling to their regular stride. Pitching my 



