CHAPTER XXIV 



A BUFFALO-HUNT A GREAT BEAR THE HAND ABOVE THE 



REEDS 



Audubon had made a friend of Lewis Squires, who be- 

 came his secretary. He went to him one day and said 

 to him: 



" Mr. Squires, I have brought to you my Journals, and 

 I wish you to write in them an account of a buffalo-hunt. 

 Such things are passing away, and I wish to keep a true 

 record of one." 



In Audubon's Journals was found the following narra- 

 tive of a buffalo-hunt in Mr. Squires's writing: 



" By daylight we were all up, and as our horses had 



not wandered far, it was the work of a few minutes to 



catch and saddle them. We rode three or four miles before 



we discovered anything, but at last we saw a group of three 



buffaloes some miles from us. "We pushed on, and soon 



neared them; before arriving at their feeding-ground we 



saw, scattered about, immense quantities of pumice-stone 



in detached pieces of all sizes; several of the hills appeared 



to be composed wholly of it. As we approached within 



two hundred yards of the buffaloes they started, and away 

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