THE WASTEFUL WEST 



the side of his game, and knew that he had over- 

 estimated his distance. He lowered his sights, and 

 waited for the cow to lie down. She would not get 

 up again but the hunter called this bad shooting. 

 Later victims he might purposely shoot through the 

 lungs, sure that they could not stagger very far. 



A part of the herd became uneasy, began to move, 

 to string out. Now the hunter must act at once or 

 be left alone with nothing to show for his morning's 

 work and nothing to keep the skinners busy. Hur- 

 riedly he aimed at the leading buffalo of those now 

 on the move. Pictures by artists who never saw the 

 buffalo nearly always show the herd led by some 

 majestic bull. Artists are not even as accurate as 

 scientists. It was always an old cow that led the 

 herd and it was the first care of the killer to learn 

 which cow this was and if possible to shoot her down 

 the first thing. If he failed in this the herd might 

 get out of hand. But he rarely failed if he knew his 

 business. As their leader stumbled to her knees 

 and sank down, the tetupid creatures following 

 snuffed and stumbled and began to "mill," moaning, 

 perhaps, and finally standing still, looking at the 

 silent death coming they knew not whence and smit- 

 ing them down one by one. Be sure that once hav- 

 ing his "stand" established, the hunter behind the 

 grass wisp went on with his work as fast as he 



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