ON THE CATTLE RANGES. 77 



" We Ve got enough hands to drive this open 

 countr}' without you ; but we 're out of meat, 

 and I don't want to kill a beef for such a 

 small outfit ; can't you shoot some antelope 

 this morning ? We '11 pitch camp by the big 

 blasted cottonwood at the foot of the ash 

 coulies, over yonder, below the breaks of Dry 

 Creek.'' 



Of course I gladly assented, and was speed- 

 ily riding alone across the grassy slopes. There 

 was no lack of the game 1 was after, for from 

 every rise of ground I could see antelope 

 scattered across the prairie, singly, in couples, 

 or in bands. But their very numbers, joined 

 to the lack of cover on such an open, fiattish 

 country, proved a bar to success ; while I was 

 stalking one band another was sure to see me 

 and begin running, whereat the first would 

 likewise start, I missed one or two very long 

 shots, and noon found me still without game. 



However, I was then lucky enough to see a 

 band of a dozen feeding to windward of a 

 small butte, and by galloping in along circle I 

 got within a quarter of a mile of them before 

 having to dismount. The stalk itself was 

 almost too easy; for I simply walked to the 

 butte, climbed carefully up a slope where the 

 soil was firm and peered over the top to see 

 the herd, a little one, a hundred yards off. 

 They saw me at once and ran, but I held well 

 ahead of a fine young prong-buck, and rolled 

 him over like a rabbit, with both shoulders 

 broken. In a few minutes I was riding on- 

 wards once more with the buck lashed behind 

 my saddle. 



The next one I got, a couple of hours later, 



