1 8 Hunting the Grisly 



nearly met with a frightful death, being over- 

 taken by a vast herd of stampeded buffaloes. 

 All animals that go in herds are subject to 

 these instantaneous attacks of uncontrollable 

 terror, under the influence of which they be- 

 come perfectly mad, and rush headlong in 

 dense masses on any form of death. Horses, 

 and more especially cattle, often suffer from 

 stampedes; it is a danger against which the 

 cowboys are compelled to be perpetually on 

 guard. A band of stampeded horses, sweep- 

 ing in mad terror up a valley, will dash against 

 a rock or tree with such violence as to leave 

 several dead animals at its base, while the 

 survivors race on without halting; they will 

 overturn and destroy tents and wagons, and 

 a man on foot caught in the rush has but a 

 small chance for his life. A buffalo stampede 

 is much worse or rather was much worse, in 

 the old days because of the great weight 

 and immense numbers of the beasts, which, 

 in a fury of heedless terror, plunged over 

 cliffs and into rivers, and bore down whatever 

 was in their path. On the occasion in ques- 

 tion, my brother and cousin were on their way 

 homeward. They were just mounting one of 

 the long, low swells, into which the prairie 

 was broken, when they heard a low, mutter- 



