THE AMERICAN BISON. 27 



party should stop next night. The noise we could still 

 hear next norning, hy applying our ears to the ground ; 

 and it seemed about as far distant, and in the same 

 direction, as before. We started early, and rode some 

 hours before we could begin to see them; and when we 

 first discovered the margin of the herd, it must have been 

 at least ten miles distant. It was like a black line 

 drawn along the edge of the sky, or a low shore seen 

 across a lake. The distance of the herd from the place 

 where we first heard them could not have been less than 

 twenty miles. But it was now the rutting season, and 

 various parts of the herd were all the time kept in rapid 

 motion by the severe fights of the bulls. To the noise 

 produced by the knocking together of the two divisions 

 of the hoof, when they raised their feet from the ground, 

 and of their incessant tramping, was added the loud and 

 furious roar of the bulls, engaged, as they all were, in 

 their terrific and appalling conflicts. We were conscious 

 that our approach to the herd would not occasion the 

 alarm now, that it would at any other time, and we 

 rode directly towards them. As we came near we killed 

 a wounded bull, which scarcely made an effort to escape 

 from us. He had wounds in his flanks, into which I 

 could put my whole hand. As we knew that the flesh 

 of the bulls was not now good to eat, we did not wish 

 to kill them, though we might easily have shot any 

 number. Dismounting, we put our horses in the care 

 of some of our number, who were willing to stay back 

 for that purpose, and then crept into the herd to try 

 to kill some cows. I had separated from the others, 

 and advancing, got entangled among the bulls. Before 

 I found an opportunity to shoot a cow, the bulls began 



