CHAPTER XXII

HUNTING WITH A SIX-SHOOTER

The round-up was over and the representatives of the various brands had started off in different directions toward their home ranches, taking with them the few cattle that had been gathered during these last days. With the Sturgis party went also Jack Mason, whom McIntyre had engaged only for the round-up, and who was beginning to get uneasy and to long to resume his wandering life. When he paid him off, McIntyre said to Mason that he would be glad to have him work on the ranch for the rest of the season, and even hinted that he would give him a job for the winter, but to these proposals Mason shook his head, laughingly, and declared that his steady job had lasted long enough and that now he was going to make a little trip.

There were thus five men in the party that was traveling toward Swift Water Ranch. They had about fifty head of cattle and twenty-five horses to drive. The distance was short, the weather fine, and they expected to reach the ranch in three or four days, at the most.

The morning after the round-up outfits had separated, they started in good season, traveling up a broad open valley between the mountains, where in many places the grass stood well above the horses' knees. As they drove along, antelope were constantly seen ahead of them, which, though not shy, always moved off ahead, or ran up the open side valleys which at short intervals emptied into the main one.

"Son," Hugh said to Jack, who was riding near him, "why don't you and Donald go ahead and try to kill a buck antelope with your pistols? I'm getting hungry for a piece of wild meat. I've had so much beef lately that it seems to me I can pretty near feel my horns sprouting;" and he rubbed his hand over the side of his head. "The buck antelope ought to be in pretty fair order now, and I don't know why you shouldn't be able to get up pretty close to 'em, if you work along close to the side of the valley, and see the antelope before they see you. They're great fellows, you know, to climb up and lie where they can look out over the country. If you had rifles you'd be sure to get a shot or two. I don't know what kind of a pistol shot you are. Most of us can't do much with these short guns, though Major Frank North, down in Nebraska, could kill game as well with a pistol as I could with a rifle. Many a time I've seen him kill deer and antelope at a hundred yards, what we'd think was a good rifle shot, and he was using just an ordinary revolver."

"That's a good idea, Hugh. We'll do it. I'd like to give Donald a chance. He hasn't had any show yet to hunt, and I expect that's what he came out here for."

"Is it?" inquired Hugh. "I haven't seen him carry a rifle, and I didn't know what he was out here for."

"Well," Jack admitted, "I don't know either; it's just my guess that maybe he came out to have a hunt."

"Then take him along. You're not needed here, and I certainly would like to have some wild meat hung up in camp."

Jack asked Donald if he wanted to go and see whether they could kill an antelope with their pistols, and there was no doubt about Donald's readiness; so it was not long before the two young fellows, riding out well to one side of the little herd, galloped off up the valley and, waving to Rube as they passed, were soon out of sight behind a point of the hills.

When they were well beyond sight or sound of the herd, Jack drew in his horse and, turning toward the edge of the valley, repeated to Donald what Hugh had said.

"What we want to do," Jack went on, "is to keep as close as we can to the edge of the valley and watch the ground ahead for antelope. Along toward the middle of the morning they're likely to get up pretty high and to lie down where they can have a good look over the open land. If we can see one lying down, or can see one working toward a place where it looks as if he might lie down, we may be able to get right close to him. Now, I've used a pistol mighty little, and I don't feel at all sure that I can hit anything with it. Have you ever used a pistol much?"

"In past years in England, and in New York, I have done some shooting with a pistol at a target, but of course I have never shot at game; and I fancy that to shoot at game is very different from shooting at a target, in a quiet place with all the lights arranged just so."

"Yes," laughed Jack, "I should think it would be; but if you know how to shoot a pistol, you'll have to do your best to kill the game. I tell you, if we come in to-night without anything, I shall lay it up against you."

"I'll do what I can," Donald promised, "if you will take me up close enough to get a fair shot. You see in the shooting-galleries the distances are short, scarcely ever over twenty yards; and what is more, the people there shoot with special pistols, and often with special ammunition. So if I flunk on killing game, you can see I will have plenty of excuses. Besides that, I don't know anything about this pistol--it's a new one I've just bought, and I can't tell anything about how it's going to shoot."

The hills which bordered the valley on either side were low, but rough, rocky ledges often thrust themselves out to the valley's edge, and from these ledges great pink or reddish rocks, occasionally worn into queer shapes, had fallen. Sometimes around such a great rock was a little tangle of underbrush--cherry, currant and raspberries--while sometimes there was no brush and the yellow grass grew close about the rocks. It was up here on the higher land that Jack hoped to find antelope lying down, and, under cover of rocks and brush and the inequalities of the ground, to be able to get close enough to kill one with a pistol.

As they rode on, it became clear that Hugh had sent them to a good hunting place for antelope. Groups of these animals, or sometimes old bucks feeding singly, could be seen every few hundred yards for a long distance ahead. Some of the bucks seemed to carry extraordinarily large horns, which would make fine trophies to hang on the wall, and both Jack and Donald regretted that they did not have their rifles.

Donald, whose experience in hunting was much less than Jack's, was anxious to try to approach the first bunch of antelope they saw; but Jack pointed out to him that this could not be done, because there was little or no cover. He explained further that if they started the antelope running along this valley, they would put every animal there on the alert, and their hunting later in the day would be just so much the more difficult.

"If we ride along close to the rocks here," he said, "the antelope will pay little attention to us. Some of them will stand and look, and perhaps walk off a little way, but when they see us go on about our business they will begin to feed again. Along toward the middle of the day, if we keep our eyes well open, we are pretty sure to find some of these big bucks lying down close to the hills, and then we'll give you a chance to see what you can do with your six-shooter."

"All right," agreed Donald; "all right; you're the hunter, and I am perfectly willing to follow along behind and do what you tell me to."

"Oh, it's not that. But I've had more experience than you, and I know better than you what animals will do under certain circumstances. Why," Jack laughed, "don't I remember the first antelope I ever killed! How crazy I was to get up to it, and how I fell down two or three times on the way to the top of the hill, and how I finally scared the antelope out of the country! I believe that was one of the best lessons in hunting I ever learned. I made such a complete fool of myself, that I even saw it myself, and it humbled me and made me ask Hugh to put me on the right road, and to keep me traveling there."

Donald was interested in all hunting matters, and he was anxious to have Jack tell him the whole story of that hunt in detail. Somewhat reluctantly, Jack told him something of his adventures during his first visit to his uncle's ranch, when he was known as "Jack, the Young Ranchman."

As the boys rode up the valley, new vistas of its yellow surface and of the side ravines that came into it were constantly opening up, and distant animals were often seen which Donald could not always identify, and which he took for deer, or elk, or even cattle. Jack assured him, however, that they were all antelope.

"How do you know?" Donald asked. "Now there's a beast far off that looks black, and looks as if it had big horns. How do you know that that's an antelope?"

"I can't tell you how I know, but I do know that it's an antelope. You say it looks black; well, so it does, but on the other hand, look where the sun is, and you'll see that the reason it looks black is because the part of it that we see is mostly in the shadow, while everything around about is in that bright sunlight. You say it looks as if it had big horns, and I'll acknowledge that it does--but look at it now. Can you see its horns?"

"No," said Donald; "it seems to have lost its horns."

"It has to our eyes," explained Jack, "because it has turned its head, and we don't see the horns from the point of view that we did before. It would be hard for me to say positively that any of those things were not elk or cattle, but I'm dead sure that they are all antelope, because at this time of the day there would not be any elk in this place; that's one thing; another thing is, if they were cattle they would look different. They would be squarer, broader, heavier. Hold on there! Bend down slow, and slip off your horse!"

In a moment the boys were on the ground.

"Did you see him?" Jack whispered.

"No," answered Donald; "I didn't see anything."

"Why, there's a big buck antelope lying there, not seventy-five yards away, and he didn't see us either. I believe we can crawl up close enough to get a shot. Look here, you said just now that you didn't know your pistol, and didn't know how you could shoot with it. Do you want to take mine? I can tell you how it shoots, but I don't know that that'll do much good. If you can get near enough to the buck and can find a place to rest the pistol, you had better shoot at him from a rest."

"Well, how are we going to get near him?" asked Donald. "I don't know where he is. You will have to crawl up to him, and when you get to the right place, call me up and I'll shoot."

"I think we can get up to him all right," said Jack. "He's lying up on a little bench, and I believe we can crawl along under the bank right close to him. The only danger is that he'll see you when you rise to shoot; and I suppose if you have to shoot at him on the run, you'll miss him."

"I'm sure I shall; but let's try, anyhow."

They threw down the reins of their horses, and turning toward the valley crept very carefully down into a little sag. Jack pointed ahead to where a great rock showed sixty or seventy yards away.

"He's lying right at the foot of that rock; between us and it. Now, we'll have to crawl along this low place, sticking as flat to the ground as we know how, and then when we get within thirty or forty yards, you lift up your head and find him and kill him, if you can. If you miss him, I may take a pop at him; but I'm certain I shan't hit him when he's running. But, say," he cautioned in a whisper, "don't you take your pistol out of your holster until you get ready to shoot, and I won't take mine out either. I'm afraid that if we have them in our hands we might kill each other instead of the antelope."

"All right," agreed Donald.

Jack threw off his hat and Donald did the same, and the boys crept along very cautiously and slowly. As they advanced, the top of the rock seemed to come nearer and nearer, and at length they were quite close to it. Presently Jack stopped, looked back and motioned with his hand for Donald to creep up beside him.

"Now you go up very slowly on your knees," he whispered, "and try to find him. Remember that the first thing you will see is his black horns sticking up. If you see them close together, his head will be turned out toward the valley; if you see them wide spread he'll be looking straight in our direction. Wait, if you can, until he looks out toward the valley, and then rise and shoot. You'll have to shoot pretty quickly, for he's almost certain to see us. Raise your head very slowly."

Donald gathered his legs under him and very slowly rose to his knees, at the same time feeling for his six-shooter. Gradually as his head rose higher and higher, his hand went around to his hip; but when he was standing on his knees it was evident that he saw nothing. He looked at Jack, who motioned with his hand toward the rock, and Donald crept forward a little way up the bank. This time when he raised his head, he saw the animal. He drew his pistol and noiselessly cocked it, waited a moment and then, raising his head and hand slowly, he fired.

Jack was on his knees behind Donald and had his pistol ready, but nothing stirred.

"You must have got him!" Jack cried.

The boys quickly jumped to their feet and climbed up the bank, and there was the antelope, his head stretched out before him.

"Let's get a knife into him!" exclaimed Jack. "He may be only creased."

A few steps brought the boys to him, and taking hold of the antelope's horn Jack thrust in his knife at the point of the breast. Then he saw that the ball had entered just below the head and had broken the antelope's neck.

"By Jove!" he cried, "that was a good shot, and a quick shot! If that wasn't an accident, it was certainly a way up shot. I'd give a good deal to be able to shoot a pistol like that three times out of five."

"It was a lucky shot, sure enough," laughed Donald. "I can't do that sort of thing three times out of five, nor three times out of ten. I wish I could."

"Well, we'll have to have some pistol practise when we get back to the ranch, for if you can do this thing often, I'll want you to give me some lessons."

The boys dressed the antelope, which was a fine old buck with a pair of long, spreading horns.

"This will tickle Hugh," said Jack, "for it's just what he asked for--a good piece of wild meat."

They left the antelope where it lay, and riding out a short distance from the hills so that they could see the whole valley, they took the saddles and bridles from their horses and let them feed while they sat there and talked until the slow traveling herd had come almost to where they were. Then they saddled up again, went back to the antelope, and putting it on Donald's horse rode down and joined the others.