282 Hunting Trips on the Prairie 



every side for leagues of dreary sameness. Once 

 we came to a canyon which ran across our path, 

 and followed along its brink for a mile to find a 

 place where we could get into it; when we finally 

 found such a place, we had to back the horses down 

 to the bottom and then lead them along it for some 

 hundred yards before finding a break through which 

 we could climb out. 



It was late in the afternoon before we saw any 

 game; then we made out in the middle of a large 

 plain three black specks, which proved to be buffalo 

 old bulls. Our horses had come a good distance, 

 under a hot sun, and as they had had no water ex- 

 cept from the mud-hole in the morning they were 

 in no condition for running. They were not very 

 fast anyhow; so, though the ground was unfavor- 

 able, we made up our minds to try to creep up to 

 the buffalo. We left the ponies in a hollow half 

 a mile from the game, and started off on our hands 

 and knees, taking advantage of every sage-brush 

 as cover. After a while we had to lie flat on our 

 bodies and wriggle like snakes; and while doing 

 this I blundered into a bed of cactus, and filled my 

 hands with the spines. After taking advantage of 

 every hollow, hillock, or sage-brush, we got within 

 about a hundred and twenty-five or fifty yards of 

 where the three bulls were unconsciously feeding, 

 and as all between was bare ground I drew up 

 and fired. It was the first time I ever shot at buf- 

 falo, and, confused by the bulk and shaggy hair 

 of the beast, I aimed too far back at one that was 



