Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-09-03

the prong buck dwells
- the hunter must some
- times face thirst, as well
EHySllL4S1 as fire and frost. The
kGSYgE1YE only time l ever really
suffered from thirst was
while hunting prong-buck.
1t was late in the summer. l was
with the ranch wagon on the way to
join roundup. and as we were out
of meat l started for days hunt.
After two or three hours ride, up
winding coulies, and through the
scorched desolation of patches of Bad
Lands, | reached the rolling prairie
The heat and drought had long burned
the short grass dull brown; the bot
toms of what had been pools were
covered with hard, dry, cracked earth
The day was cloudlcss, and the heat
oppressive. There were many ante
lope, but l got only one shot, breaking
bucks leg; and though | followed il
for n couple of hours | could not over
take it. BY this time it was late in
the afternoon, and was far away
from the river; so pushed for creek,
III lllt btI VI W lAlNll AltlNA "a " ~ y
found pools of water, especially to-
wards the head, as is usual with plains
watercourses. To my chagrin. how
ever they all proved to be dry; and
though | rode up the creek bed to-
ward the head, carefully searching for
any sign of water, night closed on me
before | found any. For two or three
hours l stumbled on, leading my horse
in my fruitless search; then tumble
over a cut bank in the dark warned
me that l might as we'll stay where
was for the rest of the warm night
Accordingly / unSaddled the horse
and tied him to a sage brush; after
awhile he began to feed on the dewy
grass. At first l was too thirsty to
sleep. Finally l fell into a sumber
and when l awoke at dawn l felt no
thirst. For an hour or two more
continued my search for water in the
creek bed; then abandoned it and rode
straight for the river. By the time
we reached it my thirst had come
back with redoubled force, my mouth
was parched, and the horse was In
| quite as bad plight; we rushed down
to the brink, and it seemed as If we
could neither of us ever drink our fill
OF the tepid, rather muddy water. or
course this experience was merely un-
pleasant; thirst is not source of real
danger in the plains country proper
whereas in the hideous deserts that
extend from southern Idaho through
| Utah and Nevada to Arizona, it ever
menaces with death the hunter and ex-
| plorer.
| In the plains the weather Is apt to
be in extremes; the heat is tropical.
| the cold arctic, and the droughtS are
relieved by furious foods. These are
generally more severe and lasting in
the spring, after the melting of the
snow; and fierce local freshets follow
the occasional cloudbursts. The large
rivers then become wholly impassa-
bic. and even the smaller are formi-
dable obstacles. 1t is not easy to get
cattle across a swollen stream, where
the current runs like a turbid mill-race
over the bed of shifting quicksand.
| Once five of us took a thousand head
of trail steers across the Little Mis-
souri, when the river was up, and it
was no light task. The muddy current
was boiling past the banks covered
with driftwood and foul yellow froth,
and the frightened cattle Shrank from
entering it. At last, by hard riding
with much loud shouting and swing
ing of ropes. we got the leaders in, ana
the whole herd followed. After them
we went in our turn, the horses swim
ming at one moment, and the next
staggering and foundering through
the quicksand. l was riding my pet
cutting horse. Muley, which has the
provoking habit of making great
bounds where the water is just not
deep enough for swimming; once he
almost unseated me. Some of the cat.
tie were caught by the currents and
rolled over and over; most of these we
were able. with the help of our ropes
to put on their feet again. only one
was drowned, or rather choked in a
quicksand. Many swan down stream.
and in consequence struck 4 difficult
landing. where the river ran under n
cut bank: these we had to haul out
with our ropes.
Although I have often had horse
down in quicksand or in crossing n
swollen river. and have had to work
hard to save him, l have never myself
lost one under such circumstances
Yet once l saw the horse of one of my
men drown under him directly in front
of the ranch house, while he was try
ing to cross the river. This was in
early spring, soon after the ice had
broken.
When making long wagon trips over
the great plains. antelope often offer
the only source of meat supply, save
for occasional water fowl, sage fowl,
and prairie fowl - the sharp-tailed
prairie fowl, be it understood This
is the characteristic grouse of the cat
tie country; the true prairie fowl is a
bird of the farming land farther east
Towards the end of the summer OF
90 | found 1t necessary to travel from
my ranch to the Black Hills, some two
hundred miles south. The ranch wag-