128 THE AMERICAN ANTELOPE, OR PRONG -HORN. 



loaded. With a faltering band I again levelled the 

 piece and fired. 



' My nerves were steady enough to do the work. 

 When the smoke floated aside, I could see the little 

 creature bleeding on the grass, her head resting against 

 the body of her murdered mate.' 



Nemesis was near at hand in the shape of a quick- 

 sand, which swallowed the gallant captain's boots, and 

 very nearly put an end to the career of the hunting 

 novelist. How he was rescued from his unpleasant 



« 



situation is to be found in the book from which I have 

 already quoted. 



In the Upper Missouri regions the prong-horned 

 antelopes are frequently killed by the Indians while 

 swimming across the stream. The red-skin hunters say 

 that it shows a marked preference for the northern 

 bank of the river : this they attribute to the prevalence 

 on that side of certain shrubs and plants of which they 

 are particularly fond. 



The antelope preserves all its shyness in captivity ; 

 they are seldom thoroughly tamed, although a gentle- 

 man residing at St. Louis, Missouri, had one, a female, 

 which, having been caught very young on the prairies, 

 grew up excessively tame and gentle in its manners, 

 following its master to every part of the house, even to 

 the roof of the building. The gentle creature was un- 

 fortunately left one day in the company of a buck elk, 

 which gored it to death, to the great grief of the owner. 



