26 o Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



but glutted. We had been assured by cattlemen 

 and hunters, that the bison were almost extinct. 

 To procure a specimen we had undertaken a long 

 and dangerous journey into the heart of an unknown 

 and sterile country. Now, not the prize, but the 

 prizes, were within range. It never entered my 

 head that a miss was possible, for as I crawled 

 nearer, I saw that these were two immense bulls, 

 big as barns, and seemingly quite unaware of my 

 approach. They were lying down side by side. I 

 crawled on till I came within eighty yards of them. 

 Then I waited patiently till my heart stopped beat- 

 ing. Long before, I had endured the rigours of 

 *' buck fever," and I am sure that I was as cool 

 as a man could be in such a place and beneath such 

 a sun. But I missed them both ! I made the 

 mistake of firing at them as they lay. Had I 

 whistled softly, they would have risen and stood 

 still. I pulled trigger and saw the bullet strike 

 the sand just beyond them. They scrambled 

 up ; and fearing they would run, I fired again with 

 no result. Then they started towards me. In my 

 haste I forgot to pull back the hammers of my 

 Express. I wrenched it open, and rammed in a 

 couple of cartridges. When I tried to close the 

 breech, I realised, to my dismay, that the rifle was 

 jammed. At the same moment the bulls saw me, 

 and turned tail. I suppose they were six hundred 

 yards distant before I got my rifle into working 

 order, and then I pumped lead into the air till 

 they were out of sight. After that I seriously con- 

 sidered the propriety of shooting myself. Life 

 seemed worthless after such a misfortune. I told 



