298 MR BAYARD AND THE BISON. 



one of the master bulls will not be driven an inch further 

 than he likes, and that if you persecute him too much, 

 and have a horse able to do it, that he will turn to fight 

 long before he is under any muscular fatigue. To see a 

 bull of this sort halt on his native plain, and dare the 

 close approach of man, under the peculiarly ferocious 

 aspect as well as power assigned him by nature, is abso 

 lutely a poem in itself, well worthy the contemplation of 

 any lover of nature or scion of the chase, and I would not 

 have missed its advent for a great deal. The solitude 

 of the scene, the size and appearance of the game, the 

 immense area of desert around you, and the fact that 

 you are there dependent on your horsemanship and your 

 aim with the diminutive-looking weapon in your hand for 

 your life as well as for the successful issue of the chase, 

 altogether make the situation so beautiful that words fail 

 to convey any idea of the pleasurable excitement of the 

 hunter's position. 



In one of Mr Bayard's runs at buffalo, when mounted 

 on a steady and perfect horse, the following incident 

 befell him, which will prove how quickly and unexpect 

 edly a buffalo can charge out of the direct line in which, 

 at a gallop, he is going, when he is so inclined. Mr 

 Bayard had ridden up to a bull in a herd, and wounded 

 him, but not apparently with any severity, when as he 

 was still at three-parts speed by the side of the herd, and 

 about to deliver the last barrel of his revolver at the 

 stricken bison, the bull turned to charge so swiftly and sud 

 denly, which the shortness of his muscular limbs enabled 

 him to do, that the well-broken steed which Bayard was 

 riding, perfectly awake to the danger, to avoid the 

 shock was obliged to turn so shortly that he lost his legs, 

 slipped up and fell heavily on his side. Mr Bayard was 



