LUKING ANTELOPES. 125 



' A curiously formed ridge, a couteau des prairies 

 on a small scale, traversed the plain from east to west. 

 A thicket of cactus covered part of its summit. 

 Towards this thicket I directed myself. 



' I dismounted at the bottom of the slope, and lead- 

 ing my horse silently up among the cacti plants, tied 

 him to one of their branches. I then crept cautiously 

 through the bushes towards the point where I fancied 

 I had seen the game. To my joy, not one antelope, 

 but a brace of those beautiful animals, was grazing 

 beyond ; but, alas ! too far off for the range of my rifle. 

 They were fully three hundred yards distant upon a 

 smooth grassy slope. There was not even a sage bush 

 to cover me should I attempt to approach them. What 

 was to be done ? 



^ I lay for several minutes thinking over the different 

 tricks known in huntercraft for taking the antelope. 

 Should I imitate their call ? Should I hoist my hand- 

 kerchief and try to lure them up ? I saw that they were 

 too shy; for, at short intervals, they threw up their 

 graceful heads and looked enquiringly around them. I 

 remembered the red blanket upon my saddle. I would 

 display this upon the cactus bushes ; perhaps it would 

 attract them. 



' I had no alternative, but was turning to go back 

 for the blanket, when all at once my eye rested upon a 

 clay-coloured line running across the prairie beyond 

 where the animals were feedincr. It was a break in the 



