172 



AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



trying to cut off his flight he simply raced ahead just 

 as hard as he knew how, and, as my pony was not fast, 

 he got to the little pass for which he was headed 200 yards 

 ahead of me. I then jumped off, and his curiosity made 

 him commit the fatal mistake of halting for a moment to 

 look round at me. He was standing end on, and offered 

 a very small mark at 200 yards ; but I made a good line 

 shot, and, though I held a trifle too high, I hit him in 

 the head, and down he came. Another buck I shot from 

 under the wagon early one morning as he was passing 

 just beyond the picketed horses. I have several times 

 shot antelope which unexpectedly came into camp in this 

 fashion. The other three I got after much manoeuvring 

 and long, tedious stalks. 



In some of the stalks, after infinite labor, and perhaps 

 after crawling on all-fours for an hour, or pulling my- 

 self flat on my face among some small sage-brush for ten 

 or fifteen minutes, the game took alarm and went off. 

 Too often, also, when I finally did get a shot, it was under 

 such circumstances that I missed. Sometimes the game 

 was too far; sometimes it had taken alarm and was 

 already in motion; sometimes the trouble could only be 

 ascribed to lack of straight powder, and I was covered 

 with shame as with a garment. Once in the afternoon 

 I had to spend so much time waiting for the antelope to 

 get into a favorable place that, when I got up close, I 

 found the light already so bad that my front sight glim- 

 mered indistinctly, and the bullet went wild. Another 

 time I met with one of those misadventures which are 

 especially irritating. It was at midday, and I made out 



