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At present I can only say that Africa is the great antelope country, although many fine species exist also in Asia that in America there is but one kind, the prong-horn, with which you are already well acquainted and that in Europe there are two, though one of these, the well-known "chamois," is as much goat as antelope.
A woman a huntress; the character clearly proclaimed by a brace of hounds large dogs of the mastiff bloodhound breed following at the heels of the horse. And a huntress who has been successful in the chase as proved by two prong-horn antelopes, with shanks tied together, lying like saddle-bags across the croup. The mustang mare needs no spur beyond the sound of that sweet well-known voice.
And this was all that was left of the poor prong-horn all that was left of that beautiful form that, only a few moments before, was bounding over the prairie in the full pride of health, strength, and swiftness! The boys contemplated his remains with feelings of disappointment and chagrin; for, although there was still plenty of bear-meat, they had anticipated supping upon fresh venison.
The Goa is another Thibetian species; and this ends our list of the tribe: for the two European antelopes, the Chamois and Saiga, and the one peculiar to the prairies of North America the Prong-horn have already received mention. Of these graceful quadrupeds there are nearly fifty species known to the scientific naturalist.
When resemblances such as those of the prong-horn are so promiscuously distributed, the task of fixing their values in estimating affinities is not a light one, and in fact the most rational conclusion which we may draw from them is that they point back to a distant and generalized ancestor, who possessed them all, but that in the distribution of his physical estate, so to speak, these heirlooms have not come down alike to all descendants.
As ye all know, them goats is a mighty curious animal as curious as weemen is an arter runnin' backward an' forrard a bit, an' tossin' up thur heads, an' sniffin' the air, one o' the fattest, a young prong-horn buck, trotted up 'ithin fifty yards o' me. "I jest squinted through the sights, an' afore that goat hed time to wink twice, I hit him plum atween the eyes.
The same remarks also in a measure apply to the moose and prong-horn antelope, as well as to several other animals hereinafter mentioned, as they are generally considered more in the light of the hunter's than the trapper's game. There are upwards of eight varieties of this animal which inhabit North America. The common red or Virginian deer is found throughout the United States.
The willows were in bud. The wild fowl were back, and nesting by river and slough. In lonely ravines, the antelope kids were bleating proof that it was the killing season of the prong-horn. And here the village was yet shut in a pen like pigs! Soon it might be any day the four chiefs would be dragged out to die by the rope. If the rest were sent away, would it not be to some reservation?
The animal was hit, or the wolves would not have embarked in a chase so hopeless as the pursuit of a prong-horn; for, strange to say, these cunning creatures can tell when game has been wounded better than the hunters themselves, and very often pursue and run it down, when the latter believes it to have escaped!
And yet on these South American plains no animal of the genus antelope has yet been discovered; and on the prairies, as already mentioned, only one species, the Prong-horn.
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