82 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



thundering directly toward us. The boys followed as fast 

 as their horses could carry them,, but were left far behind. 

 Having started out to meet them, I tied my horse to a wagon, 

 and stationed myself near the mouth of a deep ravine ; the 

 others thought to meet them as they crossed the ravine. In- 

 stead of crossing, the buffaloes ran toward its mouth (where 

 I stood) tearing up the earth with their great hoofs, their 

 tails erect and their large, fiery eyes gleaming, looking like 

 creatures designed to scatter death and destruction. As 

 one came within fifty paces of me, he received a broadside, 

 then another and another, until I had planted five bullets in 

 his shaggy coat, when down he came with a thud that almost 

 shook the earth. In a moment I was at his side, watching 

 the black blood gush from four wounds and spurting from 

 his mouth and nostrils. He did not relinquish life without 

 a struggle, but continued to kick, tearing great holes in the 

 earth wherever his hoofs came in contact with it, until the 

 last breath had left his body. 



"Now for a robe !" I said, and commenced to skin him 

 with a dull knife ; but, finding that his skin was three- 

 fourths of an inch thick and that it would take two days to 

 finish the job, I took the tongue and a large piece of the 

 hump, leaving the remainder of my first buffalo where he 

 had fallen. The boys killed another, firing fully one hun- 

 dred shots at him before he fell. They were not in a posi- 

 tion to get a good shot. 



We continued our broken journey and soon found our- 

 selves at Pryor's Pass. This swiftly flowing stream rises 

 in the Pryor mountains, and is celebrated for its fine, large 

 trout. A trip into the mountains convinced us that we were 

 in the natural home of wild beasts. Going up the stream, 

 we heard a rifle shot and found that Tom Houston had killed 

 a silver-tip bear, about half grown. These bears make a 



