IN THE EAR WEST. 127 



they were not, as a rule, allowed to chase antelopes, not being 1 

 fleet enough to overtake them in a fair run. They were used 

 on deer, however, but they went at such a pace in the woods that 

 they frequently overran the scent, and their owner found it such 

 a difficult matter to induce them to hark back that he was often 

 annoyed by them. For open, general running he considered 

 they had few superiors, as their nose and pace were fairly good. 

 As they trotted home with us they looked gaunt, bony, and 

 listless, but when they espied a coyote some distance away, 

 they were all animation at once, and despite their hard day's 

 work, and the peremptory recall of the horn, they dashed after 

 the creature in vigorous style, and with a wild burst of yelps 

 that must have nearly startled the life out of it. The pro- 

 menader on discovering the canine group, closed to its work 

 with a will, and was soon showing a clean pair of heels ; but 

 as both vanished rapidly in the twilight we were unable to see 

 much of the chase. The dogs returned about ten o'clock, 

 having been evidently successful in the run, and after a dinner 

 of wolf-meat were glad to retire to their couch of straw in the 

 stable. Their owner told me that they remained out all night 

 sometimes in pursuit of wolves, and if they traced a bear or a 

 panther, they would not leave it until he arrived on the scene, 

 or hunger drove them away. They made their position known 

 by loud barking, and this they would keep up for twenty- 

 four hours if necessary. They got into trouble frequently 

 through their ardour in the chase, and seme of them carried 

 > wounds inflicted by the teeth or claws of an angry bear 

 ^uma ; but they were so active, cautious, and supported each 

 other so well in an attack that, as a rule, the advantage rested 

 with them. While they were not close quarter dogs, yet 

 they were excellent "snippers/' and good "fencers," and could 

 escape the leap of a panther or the hug of a bear as well as 

 any animals in the country; but their greatest delight was to 

 collar a wolf and tear it to death. They did not always escape 

 scatheless from these contests, however, for in a life and death 

 struggle their lupine foe was capable of doing a fair share of 

 work with its long fangs. The fault he found with them 

 was their temper and stubbornness, and the difficulty he had 



