American Big-Game Hunting 
boat, we saw on the opposite side of the 
river, about half-way down the bluffs, which 
were here about fifteen hundred feet high, a 
large buffalo bull. The bluffs were almost 
vertical, and this old fellow was having some 
difficulty in making his way down to the 
water. He went slowly and carefully, at 
times having pretty good going, and at 
others slipping and sliding for thirty or forty 
feet, sending the clay and stones rolling 
ahead of him in great quantities. We 
watched him for a little while, and then it oc- 
curred to some malicious spirit among us that 
it would be fun to see whether the bull could 
go up where he had come down. A shot was 
fired so as to strike near him,—for no one 
wanted to hurt the old fellow,—and as soon 
as the report reached his ears; he ‘turned 
about and began to scramble up the bluffs. 
His first rush carried him, perhaps, a hundred 
feet vertically, and then he stopped and 
looked around. He seemed not to have the 
slightest difficulty in climbing up, nor did he 
use any caution, or appear to pick his way at 
all. A second shot caused another rush up 
the steep ascent, but this time he went only 
166 
