12 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



" Sometimes the antelope would come in such plain 

 sight that I was compelled to lie close to the ground 

 while they were looking my way. I got ahead at 

 the rate of about a foot a minute until I was within 

 two hundred and fifty yards of the old buck on the 

 hill. By lifting my head carefully I could get 

 glimpses of several others, but almost despaired of 

 getting closer, and had no faith in the old carbine 

 for such a long shot. 



" While I was resting and getting possession of my 

 faculties, the animals moved a few yards to the south. 

 I saw, at the same time, that the ground, was lower 

 to my left and was traversed by an old buffalo trail. 

 Moving sideways a few inches at a time and hug- 

 ging the ground desperately close, I succeeded in 

 getting to the trail, which entirely hid me from the 

 animals. This was satisfactory to a hunter if noth- 

 ing more. After resting a few minutes I pulled, 

 dragged, and pushed myself along the trail fifty or 

 seventy-five yards, and was now within two hun- 

 dred yards of the band, and had neither been seen, 

 smelled, nor heard. I lifted my head very slowly 

 and carefully some six inches, and could see, through 

 some bunches of grass which grew near my face, the 

 entire band of fifteen or twenty animals. I could 

 scarcely believe my eyes, but there they were in bold 

 relief against the sky some lying down, others 

 standing at ease, and half a dozen or more fawns 

 running and playing like young colts. 



"I became so interested in watching the move- 

 ments of the animals that I forgot for a while what I 

 was there for. It seemed a shame to fire into the 



