262 The Lordly Buffalo. 



mile's start. For seven or eight miles we loped our jaded 

 horses along at a brisk pace, occasionally seeing the buf- 

 falo far ahead ; and finally, when the sun had just set, we 

 saw that all three had come to a stand in a gentle hollow. 

 There was no cover anywhere near them ; and, as a last 

 desperate resort, we concluded to try to run them on our 

 worn-out ponies. 



As we cantered toward them they faced us for a 

 second and then turned round and made off, while with 

 spurs and quirts we made the ponies put on a burst that 

 enabled us to close in with the wounded one just about 

 the time that the lessening twilight had almost vanished ; 

 while the rim of the full moon rose above the horizon. 

 The pony I was on could barely hold its own, after 

 getting up within sixty or seventy yards of the wounded 

 bull ; my companion, better mounted, forged ahead, a 

 little to one side. The bull saw him coming and swerved 

 from his course, and by cutting across I was able to get 

 nearly up to him. The ground over which we were run- 

 ning was fearful, being broken into holes and ditches, 

 separated by hillocks ; in the dull light, and at the speed 

 we were going, no attempt could be made to guide the 

 horses, and the latter, fagged out by their exertions, 

 floundered and pitched forward at every stride, hardly 

 keeping their legs. When up within twenty feet I fired 

 my rifle, but the darkness, and especially the violent, 

 labored motion of my pony, made me miss ; I tried to 

 get in closer, when suddenly up went the bull's tail, and 

 wheeling, he charged me with lowered horns. My pony, 

 frightened into momentary activity, spun round and tossed 



