In less than an hour the latter returned, carrying an animal upon his
shoulders, which both the boys recognised as an old acquaintance,--the
prong-horned antelope (_Antilope furcifer_), so called from the single
fork or prong upon its horns. Norman called it "a goat," and stated
that this was its name among the fur-traders, while the Canadian
voyageurs give it the title of "cabree." Lucien, however, knew the
animal well. He knew it was not of the goat kind, but a true antelope,
and the only animal of that genus found in North America. Its habitat
is the prairie country, and at the present time it is not found farther
east than the prairies extend, nor farther north either, as it is not a
creature that can bear extreme cold. In early times, however--that is,
nearly two centuries ago--it must have ranged nearly to the Atlantic
shores, as Father Hennepin in his Travels speaks of "goats" being killed
in the neighbourhood of Niagara, meaning no other than the prong-horned
antelopes. The true wild goat of America is a very different animal,
and is only found in the remote regions of the Rocky Mountains.

What Norman had shot, then, was an antelope; and the reason why it is
called "cabree" by the voyageurs, and "goat" by the fur-traders, is
partly from its colour resembling that of the common goat, but more from
the fact, that along the upper part of its neck there is a standing
mane, which does in truth give it somewhat the appearance of the
European goat. Another point of resemblance lies in the fact, that the
"prong-horns" emit the same disagreeable odour, which is a well-known
characteristic of the goat species. This proceeds from two small
glandular openings that lie at the angles of the jaws, and appear spots
of a blackish brown colour.

Both Lucien and Francois had shot antelopes. They had decoyed them
within range in their former expedition on the prairies, and had seen
wolves do the same. The Indians usually hunt them in this manner, by
holding up some bright-coloured flag, or other curious object, which
rarely fails to bring them within shot; but Norman informed his cousins
that the Indians of the Hudson's Bay Company care little about the
antelope, and rarely think it worth hunting. Its skin is of little
value to them, and they consider its flesh but indifferent eating. But
the chief reason why they take so little notice of it is, because it is
found in the same range with the buffalo, the moose, and t