The Lordly Buffalo. 



The profile of a ridge across which several trails led 

 had rather a curious look when seen against the sky. 



Game was scarce on this broken plains country, where 

 the water supply was very scanty, and where the dull 

 brown grass that grew on the parched, sun-cracked ground 

 had been already cropped close ; still we found enough to 

 keep us in fresh meat ; and though no buffalo were seen, 

 the trip was a pleasant one. There was a certain charm 

 in the very vastness and the lonely, melancholy desolation 

 of the land over which every day we galloped far and 

 wide from dawn till nightfall ; while the heavy canvas- 

 covered wagon lumbered slowly along to the appointed 

 halting-place. On such a trip one soon gets to feel that 

 the wagon is home ; and after a tiresome day it is pleasant 

 just to lie still in the twilight by the side of the smoulder- 

 ing fire and watch the men as they busy themselves 

 cooking or arranging the beds, while the solemn old 

 ponies graze around or stand quietly by the great white- 

 topped prairie schooner. 



The blankets and rubbers being arranged in a carefully 

 chosen spot to leeward of the wagon, we were not often 

 bothered at night, even by quite heavy rainfalls ; but once 

 or twice, when in peculiarly exposed places, we were 

 struck by such furious gusts of wind and rain that we 

 were forced to gather up our bedding and hastily scramble 

 into the wagon, where we would at least be dry, even 

 though in pretty cramped quarters. 



