Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-10-12
THU ANTELOPE CHASE,
A Graphic Description Of a Weeks
s%ojourn in the Haunts of
the Antelope.
A Peculiar Animal, Whose Pursuit
Is Accompanied With No Small
Degree of Pleasure.

Mr.. and Mrs. W. D. Boyce Make the
Trip-Incidents Of the Trip
and the Chase.
Especial Correspondence
MEDoRA, Oct. 81 have just returned
from a weeks outing among those most
graceful denizens of the broad, Ameri-
can prairies-the antelope. In the course
of the week I have succeeded in killing
several of the wary animals, and today
rode in from the hunting grounds-a
distance of about forty miles. It was a
glorious ride, over the toughest country
the sun ever dared to shine upon. Our
trip had been preceded twenty-four hours
by a gently soaking rain, which liquefed
the ordinarily hard clay into the con-
sistency of axle grease, and, in truth, it
possessed numerous of the character
istics of that sticky compound. The
horse which allowed me to bestride him,
recompensed himself for the indignity
by falling up hill and sliding down, with
unfailing regularity. Part of the time I
rode upon the horses back and part of
the time upon the trucks. Part of the
time, again, I left the horse to his own
devices, and, seeking out a quiet, &c.
cluded and unfrequented path down
some of the steepest hills, I folded my
unanimously booted feet beneath me
and slid down solely upon my own hook.
Occasionally 1 struck a snag and left
pieces Of wearing apparel and slices OF
cuticle along the path. But T succeeded
in bringing home sufficient of myself to
establish my identity. That part of my
anatomy which I left behind-upon the
saddle, scattered over rock-bound hills
clinging closely to %cactus-beds, and that
part which peeled off under the infu-
ences of a tanning October sun-that
part, I hope, will grow again, and as soon
as exhausted nature has renewed this
waste l expect to return to Bismarck.
The antelope, descriptively, is, in
point of speed, a cross between a flash
of lightning and the tongue of a populist
campaign speaker. It consists of a
cylindrical shaped body, mounted upon
four long, thin, wiry legs, which average
about 720 revolutions per second, when
in active use. The ordinary antelope is
gifted with nearly three dozen pairs Of
eyes, all which are remarkably clear OF
vision and independent of spectac]es
His ears are quite long, and the gentle
tread of a grasshopper half a mile away
will arouse him from the eoundest oil
slumber, and set him to packing his
travelling bag. In full speed, the flexible
hind legs of the antelope seem to elong.
ate until they reach incredible proper.
tions, and the way they traverse the
miles Of unbroken prairie is alarming
On a clear day, the average antelope
will pass from sight in from 80 to sc
seconds, leaving naught behind but
wave Of heated air, and a dark streak
along the horizon.
The first night Of. our trip out, we on.
camped on a creek, about 80 miles from
town. Mr.. and Mrs. w. D. Boyce &C.
companied US, and we're delightful com
panions. It was nearly dark when WI
reached the camping grounds, and
brisk wind Of the somewhat raw, October
variety, lent it's share to the interest w
took in a campfire, hastily constructed
in a can which had once contained i'm
ported sardlnes. Supper was speedily
prepared-bacon, boiled potatoes, coffee
and biscuits, of which latter six of us
ate thirty, each nearly as great in cir
conference as an ordinary wagon wheel
and weighing three pounds to the square
inch, at an estimate appropriated from
the views of the party after the last bis.
cult had been consumed. Shortly after
supper, I disappeared in the depths Of q
soda-cracker box, and enfolding myself
in a liberal section of nuns yelling, ]
forgot myself in sleep. At length, ]
aw oke. I awoke several times in the
course of the night, once to turn over and
once again to extricate my elbow from
the cold, damp ground, but J did moi
awake at any length until daylight
When I arose, and looked about me, |
discovered that I was by no means alone
in my wakefulness. A band of antelope
stood about 200 yards distant, npons 8
ledge above the creek, and peered down
in awestruck curiosity, at our tent. In
short, they gazed intently. I sank down
into the long grass at the edge Of the
creek, and with seven %convulsive wrigglee
and one %serpentine spasm, I managed to
reach the tent, without alarming the IN.
telope. MI. and Mrs. Boyce were arous,
ed, and the latter secured a shot from
the flap of the tent. It was a quite long
shot, but accurate, and at the report Of
the gun, one of the band tumbled down
the ledge, and lay quite still at the bot.
tom, shot through the front shoulders
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