SHAGGO AND THE ANTELOPES
Surprised by the hot, spouting column of water, just as he had been
about to take a drink, Shaggo leaped back in the cave. Then he stood
there, watching the water bubble and boil. It also steamed, for it was
very hot.
“This is very queer,” thought the mighty buffalo. “Hot water is all
right in a cold winter, maybe, but even then I’d have to let it cool
in the snow before I could drink it. But hot water in the summer is no
good at all. I wonder what makes this water so hot, and I wonder if it
will cool?”
Shaggo stood back, out of reach of the splashing, hot water, and looked
at it. Never before had he seen anything like that.
The column of hot, hissing water was shooting up from the middle of
what he had thought was a quiet pool. It shot up just as you may have
seen a fountain spurt in some city park, though of course Shaggo knew
nothing of cities or city parks. All his life he had lived on the
buffalo range, and though that was in what is called a National Park,
such as is the Yellowstone, Shaggo knew nothing of this.
“Well, there’s no use in trying to drink that hot water,” thought the
big buffalo. “If I wait a bit, though, it may cool. I guess I’ll do
that, for I’m very thirsty. If I had a drink of cool water I think my
shoulder would feel better.”
Shaggo moved back a little and lay down where he could watch the
spouting water. It was light in this part of the cave, and he could see
very well. For some time Shaggo lay there.
All at once, and as suddenly as it had begun, the water stopped
bubbling up, and the pool became quiet.
“Good!” exclaimed Shaggo to himself. “Now I can get a drink.”
When he got up his shoulder hurt him again, and he had to cry “ouch!”
several times before he managed to reach the edge of the pool, which
was in the middle of the rocky floor of the cave. Shaggo could tell by
sniffing that the water was cool now.
“And such a good drink as I’ll have!” he said to himself.
But just as he was about to put his nose down into the pool to drink,
again came that bursting, bubbling column of hot water, and Shaggo had
to leap quickly back for fear of being scalded.
“Oh, dear me! This is no good at all!” bellowed the shaggy buffalo,
shaking his big head and his hump that was covered with long, dark
brown hair. “This is a queer cave, where you can’t even get a drink of
cold water!”
Shaggo did not know what to do. The longer he waited the more he wanted
a drink, but he could not take that hot water.
“I’ll wait a little longer,” thought the runaway buffalo. “Maybe it
won’t happen again. It’s like somebody playing a trick on me. If Soako
or Poko were here I’d say they were doing it. But they are far away.
They didn’t jump over the wire fence as I did――and I almost wish, now,
that I hadn’t. I’m not having half as much fun as I thought I would.
The range was a better place for me than I thought.”
Once more Shaggo lay down near the hot, boiling spring. He waited until
the column of water stopped bubbling and then he tried, for the third
time, to get a drink. But when again it shot up, almost in his nose, he
gave a grunt and wuff and said:
“This settles it! I’m not going to fool away any more time here. I’m
going out of this cave and get a drink somewhere else! This is a crazy
sort of spring!”
Limping along, and shaking his big head, Shaggo turned to find a way
out of the cave. He knew that the place where the most light came in
was the place where he could get out, and he started for this. In a
little while he was outside, on the broad, rolling prairie. He looked
around him. Back in the distance he could see the wire-fenced buffalo
range, from which he had jumped in order to run away. He was so far off
now that he could not make out the forms of any of his animal friends.
Nor could they see him, he felt sure. To one side was a big tract of
woods, a dense forest, and in the other direction lay the prairies,
over which, years before, millions of buffaloes like Shaggo had roamed
as they pleased. Now there were only a few buffaloes left, and most of
them were in National Parks.
“Now to try for another place to get a drink,” said Shaggo to himself.
“I guess I’ll keep out of the woods for a while.”
Raising his big head, Shaggo sniffed the air. He was not quite sure,
but he thought that over toward the east, in the place where the bright
sun came up every morning, he could smell water.
“I’ll try that way,” said Shaggo to himself. He lumbered slowly along,
limping a little because of his hurt shoulder, and soon the smell of
water came stronger to his black nose.
All at once a voice that seemed to come from the ground on which Shaggo
walked cried:
“Hey there! Why don’t you look where you’re going? You almost put your
big foot in my house!”
“Your house? Where’s your house?” bellowed Shaggo. “I don’t see any.”
“No, because you’re up so high in the air,” went on the voice. “My
house is right down by your big hoofs, and if you don’t take care
you’ll tumble in the roof, and step on me!”
Shaggo looked down and saw a queer, light brown little animal sitting
near a hole in the ground.
“Who in the world are you?” asked Shaggo.
“I’m Yippi, the prairie dog,” was the answer. “Excuse me for speaking
so sharply to you, but if I hadn’t you’d have broken into my house.”
“I wouldn’t have done that on purpose,” said Shaggo. “I was so busy
sniffing for water that I didn’t see you. Is there a cool spring to
drink from around here? I found some water over in the cave, but it was
hot, and bubbled up under my nose.”
“Oh, that must have been one of those boiling geysers as they call
them,” explained Yippi. “I’ve heard my grandfather tell of them, but I
never saw one.”
“Well, I’ve seen one, and I don’t care for another,” went on Shaggo.
“Believe me, they’re no fun! Where can I get a cool drink?”
[Illustration: “Who in the world are you?” asked Shaggo.]
“You’re going in the right direction,” said Yippi, the prairie dog.
“Just follow your nose, and you’ll come to a fine spring. It’s a big
one where all we animal folk drink, but you have to take your turn.
Mine doesn’t come until after all the others are through, as I’m so
little, you see.”
“What do you mean――take your turn?” asked Shaggo. “When I’m thirsty I
take a drink――I don’t wait for any one.”
“Well, perhaps you can, as you’re so strong and big,” replied the
little prairie dog. “But I’m not sure. There are some other big
animals in this part of the country――bears, and antelopes with sharp
horns. They never bother me, though, for I run into my burrow and hide
whenever I hear any of them coming. Once a bear tried to dig me out
with his long claws.”
“What did you do?” asked Shaggo.
“Oh, I fooled him all right. While he was digging at my _front_ door,
I just slipped out at the _back_ and ran away. Ha! Ha! We prairie dogs
always have more than one hole door to our houses. But you’ll have to
excuse me. I must get some grass for dinner.”
“And I must get a drink,” said Shaggo. “Thank you for telling me about
the spring, and excuse me for almost stepping on you.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” barked Yippi. Then the big buffalo turned away
and Yippi ran off to gather some grass and other things to eat.
As Shaggo walked on, going a bit slowly so his lame shoulder would not
hurt so much, the smell of water became more and more plain.
“And I surely hope it will not be a hot geyser spring this time,”
thought Shaggo. “I am so very thirsty!”
Over the rolling prairie, up little hills, and down in little valleys
walked the mighty buffalo. In about half an hour he came to the top of
a larger hill than any he had yet climbed. When he reached the top he
looked down the slope and saw, at the bottom, a shining pool of water.
“Oh, how good that looks!” thought Shaggo.
He hurried down the hill as fast as he could, and he kept sniffing the
air, to make sure there was no hot geyser that would spout up under his
nose. But the cool smell of the water did not change, and the mighty
buffalo began to take hope.
As he neared the water hole he could see around the edge the marks
of many animals in the mud. Some had paws and some had hoofs, like
himself. Suddenly, from under a bush near the water hole, a big,
fur-covered animal came out.
“Oh, so you’re going to get a drink, are you?” asked this animal.
“Yes, Mr. Bear, I am,” said Shaggo. “I hope you have no objection, but,
even if you have, I’m going to get a drink! My tongue is as dry as
dust.”
“Oh, get as many drinks as you please,” answered the bear. “I’ve had
mine, and now I’m going off to take a nap. But you want to look out for
the antelopes.”
“Who are they?” asked Shaggo.
“They are like deer, animals with sharp horns,” answered the bear. “It
is nearly time for them to come for their drink. Look out for them!”
“Pooh! I’m not afraid,” said Shaggo. “I guess I have as much right
to this water as they have, and I’d like to see them drive me away,
especially when I’m so thirsty!”
“Well, I’ve told you to look out――that’s all I can do,” said the bear,
as he walked slowly away.
Shaggo limped down to the pool. As he neared it he looked carefully
at it. He was afraid lest he might see some hot water spout up. He
was going to ask the bear if this was one of those geysers, but he
remembered the prairie dog had told him this was a good place to drink.
Besides, there were the marks of many other animals at the pool, and
they would not come if the water were hot.
“Now for a good drink!” said Shaggo.
The mighty buffalo dipped his muzzle deep into the pool as a thirsty
horse dips his nose into the watering trough. Long and deep drank
Shaggo, and then he lifted his head to get his breath. As he did so he
heard the rush of many feet, and, looking around, he saw rushing toward
him a herd of large animals, on whose heads were sharp horns.
“Here! Get away from our water hole! Let our drinking pool alone!”
cried some of the horned animals as they rushed toward Shaggo.
“Who are you?” asked the buffalo.
“The antelopes!” was the answer. “You have no right to drink until we
have finished. Come on, brothers!” cried the leader of the antelope
herd. “Let us drive this shaggy creature away!” And with his sharp
horns lowered this antelope, and several others, rushed straight at
Shaggo.