
S . 
Photo by Heller 
Preoccupied 
seen during the morning and towards 
noon I arrived at an old corral near 
a small stream where I intended to 
camp that night. Unsaddling and wa- 
tering the ponies, I picketed Baldy on 
a long line and let Teddy graze at will 
as he never gave one any trouble in 
catching him. Breaking up a couple 
of rails from the old corral I soon had 
a fire going and some water boiling 
in the small can or kettle. 
TEA made and some bacon frizzled 
and bread toasted before the fire, 
using in each case a long splinter for 
a spit, lunch was ready and was soon 
over. I then had a good pipe, stretched 
on my bed which was the same as that 
used on the round up, i. e. several 
warm blankets folded in a large piece 
of heavy water-proof canvas or tar- 
paulin about the size of a double 
blanket. I still have this tarpaulin, 
gotten years ago from Meaney, the 
saddler, at Cheyenne, and it is yet 
proof against a hard night’s rain. 
About half past two I saddled Teddy 
for an afternoon’s hunt, leaving old 
Baldy in charge of the camp which 
consisted of my bed reposing peace- 
fully on the prairie. Just after cross- 
ing the stream, I noticed some fresh 
sign of antelope and many tracks 
plainly visible in the dusty ground. 
These I followed until they became 
faint, where the surface was rough 
and stony. 
HOWEVER, as they led in the gen- 
eral direction of some low bluffs 
I moved along slowly, cautiously, peer- 
ing over the crest of each fold in the 
ground. I hunted hard and thoroughly, 
however, until four o’clock without see- 
ing so much as a jackrabbit. I had 
come through some very 
broken country full of 
sharp gulches, draws 
and small rounded hills 
and in order to get back 
to camp before dark and 
yet cover as much new 
ground as possible, made 
a short loop to the west, 
then turned south. 
While ascending a hill, 
I noticed something 
moving in a _ small, 
grassy valley about a 
quarter of a mile off. 
Pulling back, I slipped 
off Teddy and crept up 
to the crest under some 
low greasewood brush to 
where I could get a good 
view of the valley be- 
yond. There they were 
—a fine band of about 
twenty-five antelope, 
some lying down and 
others grazing peacefully, unsuspect- 
ing danger. Taking a good look, I 
noted that several of the band were al- 
most at the foot of a little hill just 
opposite and that partly around the 
base of this ran a low drain gradually 
deepening into a small gulch. If I 
could get around the band and into 
this I could creep up the drain to 
within 100 yards of the antelope with- 
out exposing myself. So marking down 
the little hill and the lay of the land 
clearly in my mind, I slipped back and 
mounting the pony made a wide de- 
tour so as to come up behind the op- 
posite hill and to loo’ard of the game. 
LEAVING Teddy who, with the reins 
dangling to the ground, would 
stand indefinitely, I got into the small 
gulch and _ advanced 
quickly until it began to 
narrow down to a shal- 
low drain. Here, flat- 
tening out, I crawled 
cautiously forward. To 
make sure of my posi- 
tion, I peeped over the 
edge of the ditch and 
saw that to get within 
shot I must go about 40 
yards further around a 
bend in the ditch. So, 
sliding back, I resumed 
my snake-like crawl and 
was making good prog- 
ress when a slight noise 
caused me again to look 
up. Alas, there the 
whole bunch were 
streaming over the op- 
posite hill 300 yards off. 
Two young bucks that, 
unnoticed by me, had 
been feeding off to one 
Photo by Heller 
side and higher up than the rest, had 
evidently been able to see down into 
my drain and had given the alarm. 
ITH a feeling of disgust, I jumped 
up and let fly several hurried 
shots at the fleeing game, but though 
there may be men who, after a long, 
hard stalk, can hit running antelope 
at over 300 yards, I regret to say I’m 
not one of them, and so I was com- 
pelled to swallow my disapopintment 
and hope for better luck on the mor- 
row. 
Climbing again aboard Teddy, we 
set out for camp as the sun was now 
getting low. Crossing a flat I man- 
aged to shoot a couple of young sage 
chickens, these big grouse being very 
tame and offering such easy marks 
that it was not hard to hit them in the 
head or neck. 
Arriving back at my camping place 
on Fox Creek, I unsaddled and turned 
Teddy loose, watered Baldy and pick- 
eted him in a fresh place, then started 
the fire for supper. After being 
plucked and cleaned, one of the birds 
was roasted before the fire while the 
kettle was boiling, and made a wel- 
come addition to the bill of fare. It 
was good and tender, but commencing 
to get a little too highly seasoned of 
sage. From my small package of tea 
which was carried mixed with sugar, 
a charge was put into the now boiling 
kettle, then held over the fire a mo- 
ment, for a final bubble and supper 
was ready. 
Nxt morning, upon rounding the 
nose of a low bluff, I noticed four 
white spots about half a mile away 
near the head of a long draw, and on 
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