Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/112

 these herds of buffaloe, slowly winding round the sides of the distant hills, disappearing in some hollow and again emerging to view. Wide and beaten roads formed by the passing of the buffaloe, may every where be seen. While Mr. Bradbury was engaged in collecting specimens, I ran to a point at the distance of a mile, where I saw some antelopes, and had the good fortune, by ascending a ravine to approach within sixty yards. They proved to be six females and one male; the latter at every instant performed a circuit in a small trot, and then suddenly stopped short, as if to see that nothing came near. The tail like that of the goat, and perfectly white, the limbs small and delicate, the horns like those of the deer, with several prongs, but they are never shed, and the female has them as well as the male, though of a smaller size. On shewing myself they flew off, and I {127} had scarce time to reach the spot they left, until they reappeared upon another point, as far off as when I first saw them. We saw in the course of the evening, several wolves, villages of prairie dogs, a herd of elk, and a hare of the species called lepus variabilis, its color was at this time grey, but becomes white in winter.

On our return, I found that a disagreeable misunderstanding had taken place between the two chiefs of the parties: The interpreter of Mr. Hunt, had improperly relinquished the service of the company, to which he was still indebted. Mr. Lisa had several times mentioned to him the impropriety of his conduct, and perhaps had made him some offers, in order to draw him from his present service. This was certainly imprudent, and placed him in the power of a worthless fellow, who, without doubt, retailed the conversation to his master, with some additions. This evening, while in Hunt's camp, to which he had gone on some business, he was grossly insulted by the interpreter, who struck him several times, and seized a pair of pistols belonging