A DILEMMA. 271 



desired not to attract attention by tlie display of horses, 

 because at first we could not be sure if the stalk we were 

 thus commencing would be throughout available. 



Having crawled an immense distance on our hands 

 and knees, or, when the depth of the cover would permit 

 of it, in a stooping position, we began to near the huge 

 bulls, when on peeping through the grass we saw that one 

 of them had singled himself out, and that, could we but 

 leave the water- course, and conceal our further advance 

 sufficiently in the low prairie grass, we could attain to 

 within eighty yards of him. Having then reached the 

 extreme point where the cover of the ravine was available, 

 we took a long breath to prepare ourselves for a crawl on 

 hand, knee, and breast, and again advanced. We crept 

 on thus till the grass got so thin that we dared go no fur 

 ther, when, rising slightly to our knees, we fired at the 

 bull as he stood sideways to us, knew that we had hit 

 him, and then fell flat on our faces. Having given the 

 smoke of our rifles time to subside, we peeped through 

 the grass, and saw that four of the bulls were staring about 

 them, not in the least aware of what the noise was ; while 

 the one we shot at had walked a little distance away and 

 lain down. We knew, therefore, that he was severely 

 wounded, and in all probability as vicious as an animal 

 of that size had it in his power to be, if he could only 

 find an assailant on whom to wreak his vengeance. He 

 had attained to perhaps more than the distance of a hun 

 dred yards before Jie had^laid down, and, when down, he 

 had assumed a position that gave us in our present 

 situation a very bad offer of a shot, for he had his head 

 away from us, and his side therefore not available. The 

 grass, too, was so very scanty, that it did not admit of a 

 change in our position without the certainty of being 



