LET US GO AFIELD 



sheep feeding or fighting or resting on the grassy 

 flat before him, scores of them hundreds of them, 

 perhaps. 



That sight will be seen no more by any hunter 

 of the world; yet it gave this man no excitement. 

 He only swept out a clean place to lie, bent together 

 a few spears of grass at the crest of the ridge, and 

 placed his cartridge-belt handily before him on the 

 ground. First studying the wind and the distance 

 carefully and noting the trend of the feeding ani- 

 mals, at length he drew out his cleaning-rod and 

 his firing-stick, crossing the two wands together in 

 the grasp of his left hand and resting his heavy rifle 

 in the angle where it would lie motionless. Then 

 he again estimated his distance, perhaps two or three 

 hundred yards or more as close as he could get 

 without alarming the herd and fired his first shot, 

 aiming at some cow standing broadside toward him 

 and close toward the front of the feeding portion 

 of the herd. He aimed low, for the heart of the 

 buffalo lies unbelievably low down, close to the 

 shaggy knee of the foreleg which sometimes rubs 

 a little bare place almost directly over the heart. 

 A shot in that region was usually quickly fatal. 

 There must be no flurry or excitement, and the herd 

 must be kept still. "Shucks !" exclaimed the hunter, 

 as he saw the dust cut from the fur fly half-way up 



136 



