1 8 Hunting the Grisly 



nearly met with a frightful death, being over 

 taken by a vast herd of stampeded buffaloes. 

 All animals that go in herds are subject to 

 these instantaneous attacks of uncontrollable 

 terror, under the influence of which they be 

 come perfectly mad, and rush headlong in 

 dense masses on any form of death. Horses, 

 and more especially cattle, often suffer from 

 stampedes; it is a danger against which the 

 cowboys are compelled to be perpetually on 

 guard. A band of stampeded horses, sweep 

 ing in mad terror up a valley, will dash against 

 a rock or tree with such violence as to leave 

 several dead animals at its base, while the 

 survivors race on without halting; they will 

 overturn and destroy tents and wagons, and 

 a man on foot caught in the rush has but a 

 small chance for his life. A buffalo stampede 

 is much worse or rather was much worse, in 

 the old days because of the great weight 

 and immense numbers of the beasts, which, 

 in a fury of heedless terror, plunged over 

 cliffs and into rivers, and bore down whatever 

 was in their path. On the occasion in ques 

 tion, my brother and cousin were on their way 

 homeward. They were just mounting one of 

 the long, low swells, into which the prairie 

 was broken, when they heard a low, mutter- 



