92 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



nailing each flock becomes a sentinel for all other 

 flocks. I imagine that an alarm flash may be 

 relayed to the third or fourth flock in the dis- 

 tance. 



The antelope is the animal of the plains. He 

 is adjusted to treeless, flat, level distances. 

 Most animals aim to escape enemies by running 

 out of sight. But the antelope often cannot 

 get out of sight on the level, treeless plains. He 

 escapes by having the right kind of eyes, legs, 

 and signals. He probably is the swiftest of 

 long-distance animal runners. His eyes are large 

 and almost telescopic. 



The third day that I was in Kingfisher Camp I 

 started to follow up to the source of the stream 

 that passed my cave. About two miles up I 

 came to the beaver dam, probably built the year 

 before. There was not the sign of a house. 

 I smelled something very like beaver and, looking 

 down, saw "a hole where an antelope had thrust 

 its foot through the top of a beaver den that 

 had been built under the bank. A tunnel whose 

 entrance was concealed more than a foot under 

 water reached the den from the pond. 



Several miles up I left the channel to make a 

 long half circle through a hilly, rough country 

 and try to find my way back to camp. I wanted 

 to get the habit of taking my reckoning, so that 

 I could be certain that I could do so all the time 



