216 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



acres of land, and here is where the rattlesnakes are most 

 likely to be found, and it is also where they den up for the 

 winter. In such a place also they were found, formerly in 

 great numbers when going to their dens in the fall, or when 

 coming out in the spring, but they were not so numerous 

 there throughout the summer. Although I have seen hun- 

 dreds of prairie dog towns, I have never yet seen a rattle- 

 snake nor a burrowing owl within the limits of the inhabited 

 part of such a town, but many times I have found both in 

 the old deserted dog towns. I have also killed a good many 

 rattlesnakes in the immediate neighborhood of an inhabited 

 dog town, but as stated before never within its limits. 



I have also read that a buck antelope sheds his horns 

 annually exactly like a deer or elk, and also that he does not 

 shed his horns at all. Of course I knew not which state- 

 ment to believe until I found out from experience that neith- 

 er was correct. The shedding process takes place all right 

 in the spring of the year, but, unlike the process in other 

 animals, the new horn grows inside the old one, and pushes 

 the old shell off as explained in a previous chapter. These 

 statements go to prove the value of the old adage, which 

 might be paraphrased to read thus: "An ounce of exper- 

 ience is worth a pound of conjecture." 



The most of my hunting without a gun has been done 

 when tracing lines with a compass, or when looking the 

 country over for a tract of good government land, and some- 

 times also when carrying a gun when there was no need of 

 killing game. 



I was tracing a section line with my compass — it was 

 the last of May or the first of June — the country was all new, 

 the prairie being covered with a bright green carpet of grass, 

 purple here and there with blossoms of the wild pea and 

 patches of spider lilies, and the air fragrant with the blos- 

 soms of the wild prairie rose. My work, although import- 

 ant, was light and congenial, and I was happy or glad, prob- 



