HUNTING IN CATTLE COUNTRY 175 



way. When he was but seventy yards off, I sat up and 

 shot him; and trudged back to the wagon, carrying the 

 saddle and hams. 



In packing an antelope or deer behind the saddle, I 

 cut slashes through the sinews of the legs just above the 

 joints; then I put the buck behind the saddle, run the 

 picket rope from the horn of the saddle, under the belly 

 of the horse, through the slashes in the legs on the other 

 side, bring the end back, swaying well down on it, and 

 fasten it to the horn; then I repeat the same feat for the 

 other side. Packed in this way, the carcass always rides 

 steady, and cannot shake loose, no matter what antics the 

 horse may perform. 



In the fall of 1896 I spent a fortnight on the range 

 with the ranch wagon. I was using for the first time one 

 of the new small-calibre, smokeless-powder rifles, with 

 the usual soft-nosed bullet. While travelling to and fro 

 across the range we usually moved camp each day, not 

 putting up the tent at all during the trip; but at one 

 spot we spent three nights. It was in a creek bottom, 

 bounded on either side by rows of grassy hills, beyond 

 which stretched the rolling prairie. The creek bed, 

 which at this season was of course dry in most places, 

 wound in S-shaped curves, with here and there a pool 

 and here and there a fringe of stunted wind-beaten tim- 

 ber. We were camped near a little grove of ash, box- 

 elder, and willow, which gave us shade at noonday ; and 

 there were two or three pools of good water in the creek 

 bed one so deep that I made it my swimming-bath. 



