"All aboard. I'll just see that the camp-fire is properly stamped out, and then we'll set off."
In a short time all preparations were completed, and the two boys were ready to enjoy a morning's adventure in any form that it chose to offer.
Having hopes that something bigger than duck or chicken might reward their efforts, the chums immediately struck inwards through the bush, following an old trail from a buffalo wallow that was the ancient path of those bovines when they sought water to drink or mud to wallow in when the mosquitoes were troublesome.
Beyond chipmunks, gophers, and a single jack-rabbit (the latter falling to Bob's gun), nothing was met to tempt powder for some time. Then they reached a large "slough" that in early spring would be a small lake, though now it was filled with long blue grass and wild lavender. Here the boys paused as they examined the clearing.
"It's a likely-looking place for rattlesnakes," Bob remarked. "It hardly seems probable that—— What's that?—Over there in the centre?" The speaker's voice had suddenly dropped to an excited undertone as he pointed to a couple of small dark marks that peeped above long grass and might have been the ends of a broken branch.
Alf stared keenly for a few moments.
"I thought I saw them move——"
"So did I. Wait a minute and we'll make sure."
Keeping as still as statues, the boys waited in silence with both pairs of eyes steadily fixed upon the dark objects, and the pulses of each gave a sudden jump, for then the points moved and sank among the long grass.
"Antelope! Those are horns!" decided Alf, to which Bob returned, with a sly dig at his chum's ribs—