5H 



RECREATION 



of a drop curtain duplicated in nature, 

 yet here it was before me, not a detail 

 wanting, even the impossible mammoth 

 bed of gaudy flowers at the foot of the 

 mountains was here, and the numerous 

 cascades had not been forgotten. Well, 

 I have already confessed to my small 

 knowledge of art, but it does seem won- 

 derful to me that unknown theatrical 

 daubers should know so much more of 

 nature than the public for whom they 

 paint. 



But Nature is a bolder artist than 

 even the daring scenic painters ; in front 

 of me was a prairie of flowers, acres 

 and acres of waving undulating masses 

 of color ; thousands of Arizona wyethia 

 (wild sunflowers), mingled with the 

 brilliant tips of the fireweed and 

 clumps of odorous and delicately col- 

 ored horsemint ; there were other flow- 

 ers unfamiliar to me, and hundreds of 

 big blossoms of what I took to be a 

 member of the primrose family. 



''Surely, this is Heaven," I thought, 

 as I waded knee-deep among the beau- 

 tiful blossoms, starting the pin-tailed 

 grouse from their retreats and sending 

 the meadowlarks skimming away over 

 the flowering billows. Reaching an ele 

 vation where I could peer beyond the 

 crests of one of the "ground swells" 

 which furrowed the sea of nodding blos- 

 soms, I saw through the stems of the 

 plants a part of the prairie which the 

 elevation had at first concealed from 

 view, and there appeared to be num- 

 erous irregular boulders of dark brown 

 stone scattered around among the vege- 

 tation, but more careful scrutiny proved 

 them to be grazing buffalo. Big Pete 

 had often told me that these animals 

 lived, unmolested by him, in the park; 

 but when I realized that I was looking 

 at between three and four hundred real, 

 live buffalo my heart gave a great 

 jump of joy. I tried to view them so 

 as to take in their details, but the appar- 

 ently shapeless masses of dark, reddish 

 brown wool appeared to have none, 

 unless indeed the comical fur trousers, 

 with frayed bottoms, on their front legs, 

 might be called detail. 



Even the faces of the beasts were so 

 concealed by masks of knotted wool that 

 at first I could distinguish neither eyes, 

 noses, horns or ears; but in spite of 

 their ragged trousers and masked faces 

 the bison are sublime in their mighty 

 strength and ponderous proportions, 

 and as this was the first wild herd I had 

 ever seen and one of the very few still 

 extant, I viewed them with the keenest 

 interest. 



But the scattered bunches of antelope, 

 which I now noticed were dotting the 

 plain around the buffalo, appealed to my 

 love for the beautiful. Knowing that 

 in other localities these charming little 

 creatures are rapidly being slaughtered 

 and steadily decreasing in numbers, and 

 that, all attempts to breed them in cap- 

 tivity have so far failed, they at once 

 absorbed my attention to the exclusion 

 of their larger neighbors. 



It is not at all improbable that both 

 the reader and the writer will live to 

 see the total extinction of these agile 

 creatures. The buffalo breed as readily 

 in captivity as domestic cattle, and on 

 that account may exist in private parks 

 and zoological gardens for an indefinite 

 time. 



An old buck antelope saw me and I 

 instantly dropped to the ground and 

 was concealed by the flowering vegeta- 

 tion. I wanted to see the home life of 

 these beautiful animals, but was dis- 

 appointed because of the attention I had 

 attracted. When first discovered, the 

 does were browsing with heads down 

 and the kids were playing tag with one 

 another, every once in a while spreading 

 the white hair on their rumps and then 

 lowering the "white flag" again ; but 

 now they were all alert, the bucks had 

 seen something, and that something had 

 suddenly disappeared. This must be in- 

 vestigated, so they circled around hesi- 

 tatingly ; the apparition might be a foe, 

 but still they must satisfy their curiosity 

 and discover what it was of which they 

 had had a moment's glimpse, and thus 

 they approached nearer and ever nearer 

 to my place of concealment. 



Suddenly I became aware of the fact 



