A CHANGE OF BASE 137 



where, and if they saw us the bunch would 

 soon be away. At last from Billie's back I 

 could make out the monarch's antlers, but I 

 thought he was standing up, while in reality 

 he was lying down. We jumped out of the 

 saddles, tethered the animals, and commenced 

 crawling on hands and knees towards the 

 herd. As we got closer we found that the 

 whole herd was feeding in an oblong depres- 

 sion made by some former little lake, now 

 dried up. The next thing of interest was "the 

 king." He was really lying down on a small 

 embankment, while at each side of him were 

 two cows, two facing up the inclined plane 

 and the other two facing down. Both pairs 

 seemed to be acting in the capacity of sen- 

 tinels or body guards for "his highness." 

 Working our way nearer, we approached a 

 fringe of small willow bushes and behind 

 these we were hidden. I was to the left, and 

 in trying to see over this line of brush I raised 

 my head a few inches too high. One of the 

 sentinels on the left saw me. Just how she 

 imparted her discovery to the others I can- 

 not tell, nor even imagine. Suffice it to say 

 that within the space of half a minute she 

 had by some occult power conveyed the 

 startling information to every other animal 



