The night was clear and warm, with a full moon, and nothing disturbed the rest of the hunters, though as they fell asleep they heard the chorus of coyotes from the nearby hills. It was not light the next morning when Jack Danvers heard Mason putting on his shoes, and a moment later pushing aside the flap of the tent. Jack also began to dress and in a very few minutes the two men were preparing breakfast around the dancing fire. Dawn had come and was swiftly spreading over the sky. Jack called to Donald, who groaned a response but before long appeared at the fire just in time to be saluted by Jack, who had returned from the stream with the bucket and the coffee-kettle filled with water. After breakfast, the three rode a little way to the north, where from a high knoll they could see the cattle, placed just about as they had been the night before; and then, turning east and passing through some broken country, they came to a rolling plateau more or less interrupted by ravines, where they saw not a few antelope. Most of these were busily feeding on the higher ground and for a time the boys could see no way of approaching any of them. Finally Donald and Jack Danvers, leaving their horses, set out to crawl up a low swale which they hoped might bring them within long shot of a herd of eight or ten antelope guarded apparently by a big buck. They crawled and crawled under the hot sun, and Donald thought that he had never been in any place where it was so hot as this. Moreover, flies--small but very hungry--buzzed about his head, and stung his neck and ears, and he seriously wondered whether the antelope they were after were worth all this effort. They were still a long way from the game when the little water-course in which they were crawling spread out and became so shallow that it was impossible to proceed farther without being seen. "This seems to be our finish," Jack said, "unless you feel like shooting at them at this distance; and if I were you, I wouldn't do it. There's a possibility of hitting, but no more than that; and if you miss, when these antelope run, everything that sees them will be on the lookout and ready to run." "It isn't likely that I could hit at this distance," answered Donald. "I wish that they would come up nearer." "I'm afraid wishing won't do you much good," laughed Jack. "Say, I used to read about flagging antelope. Have you ever tried it?" "No; I never have. I guess likely they used to do it in old times, but I fancy in these days the antelope are too smart to be fooled by anything like that. To be sure, I've seen antelope come back to look a second time, or a third time, at something that they had seen but couldn't make out; but I'm afraid the flagging business won't work." "Well," suggested Donald, "why not try it anyhow? If we don't show ourselves it isn't likely to scare them; and it's possible that they may notice it." "How are you going to work it?" Jack asked.