CHAPTEK XXIV 



A BUFFALO-HUNT A GREAT BEAK THE HAND ABOVE THE 



REEDS 



AUDUBON had made a friend of Lewis Squires, who be- 

 came his secretary. He went to him one day and said 

 to him: 



" Mr. Squires, I have brought to you my Journals, and 

 I wish you to write in them an account of a buffalo-hunt. 

 Such things are passing away, and I wish to keep a true 

 record of one." 



In Audubon's Journals was found the following narra- 

 tive of a buffalo-hunt in Mr. Squires's writing: 



" By daylight we were all up, and as our horses had 

 not wandered far, it was the work of a few minutes to 

 catch and saddle them. We rode three or four miles before 

 we discovered anything, but at last we saw a group of three 

 buffaloes some miles from us. We pushed on, and soon 

 neared them; before arriving at their feeding-ground we 

 saw, scattered about, immense quantities of pumice-stone 

 in detached pieces of all sizes; several of the hills appeared 

 to be composed wholly of it. As we approached within 



two hundred yards of the buffaloes they started, and away 

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