ys on the antelope. It is a mean,
sneaking thief, too mean to attack a herd of antelopes, but follows
them up, and while one strays off, grazing, watches the opportunity to
spring upon his victim, run him down, and snap the hamstring of poor
antelope, and then eats him.

One night I was woke up at Fort Sedgwick, thinking I heard wild geese
flying over. But I learned it was a drove of coyotes, which came over
the bluffs, into and through the fort nightly, to eat the refuse meat
outside, where beef was slaughtered. They prowl about, and sometimes
make a noise like a lot of school-children hallooing at play. They
never bite, unless attacked. An old lady got lost about a mile outside
the post, at Russell, in the winter. She started out of Cheyenne, one
Monday afternoon, to search for an emigrant train which might be going
to Montana, where she had a son living.

She strayed away and was found in a snow-bank, by some soldiers going
out to dig a grave. She was glad to see the faces of white men, for it
was on Friday, and she had thus been out, wandering around since
Monday, four days! She was brought into the hospital and given a warm
cup of tea. "Dear me," she exclaimed, "give me a quart,--I'm almost
famished!" She said she was only frightened by the coyotes coming round
nights and barking at her. Her feet were partly frozen, but in a few
weeks she went on to Montana.

The black-tailed deer are fine eating; the grass on which they feed in
the mountains is said to make the meat tender and sweet.

The mountain sheep are large and very strong; they will throw
themselves from a rocky cliff and strike on their head many feet below
unharmed, being protected by horns and stout necks. They are larger
than our domestic sheep.

The antelope is a pretty, gazelle-like creature, fleet and agile in
springing up and running. Having passed over the Union Pacific Railroad
many times, it has been my pleasure to see them running away from the
train in droves of a dozen or more, in file one after the other, till
out of sight, far away over the bluffs. By-and-by they will disappear
as the buffalo have, driven away by approaching civilization. The young
are easily caught and tamed, and make nice pets for children. The cost
of one here is usually five dollars. They are hunted a good deal for
their meat, as antelopes are tender and sweet to the palate. One method
in hunting them is to raise a white or red flag, and the silly
creatures, full o