46 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



trj', and began to keep a sharp lookout for 

 game, riding parallel to, but some little dis- 

 tance from, one another. The sun, beating 

 down through the clear air, was very hot ; the 

 brown slopes of short grass, and 'still more 

 the white clay walls of the Bad Lands, threw 

 the heat rays in our faces. We skirted 

 closely all likely-looking spots, such as the 

 heavy brush-patches in the bottoms of the 

 winding valleys, and the groves of ash and 

 elm in the basins and pockets flanking the 

 high plateaus ; sometimes we followed a cat- 

 tle trail which ran down the middle of a big 

 washout, and again we rode along the brink 

 of a deep cedar canyon. After a while we 

 came to a coulie with a small muddy pool at 

 its mouth ; and round this pool there was 

 much fresh deer sign. The coulie was but 

 half a mile long, heading into and flanked by 

 the spurs of some steep, bare hills. Its bot- 

 tom, which was fifty yards or so across, was 

 choked by a dense growth of brush, chiefly 

 thorny bullberries, while the sides were formed 

 by cut banks twelve or fifteen feet high. 

 Aly companion rode up the middle, while I 

 scrambled up one of the banks, and, dis- 

 mounting, led my horse, along its edge, that 

 I might have a clear shot at whatever we 

 roused. We went nearly to the head, and 

 then the cowboy reined up and shouted to 

 me that he " guessed there were no deer in the 

 coulie." Instantly there was a smashing in 

 the young trees midway between us, and I 

 caught a glimpse of a blacktail buck speeding 

 round a shoulder of the cut bank : and though 

 1 took a hurried shot I missed. However, 



