THE BUFFALO. 219 



ty to think the Indians had been pursuing them; and as 

 the Sioux were then dangerous, and had been making raids 

 on some of the settlements, it was deemed best that we 

 should be cautious in our movements, and keep together as 

 much as possible in a run, and, above all, to rally at once 

 when the assembly call of "hoopee" was shouted. This 

 matter being understood, we advanced slowly in search of 

 the animals ; but we could see nothing of them, though an- 

 telopes in large numbers were met, and the prairie seem- 

 ed to be alive with birds. We also noted that the grass 

 was not trampled; and deducing from this that the buffa- 

 loes had not come so far south, we put spurs to our horses 

 and cantered on a few miles farther. On reaching a large 

 meadow near the Platte River, we espied a cow and a calf 

 grazing together. As they were the first seen, it was de- 

 cided to capture them for luck, so two men were detailed 

 to carry the resolution into effect. They galloped down 

 through the long grass, which reached almost to the saddle- 

 girths, and were soon beside the cow and running her hard. 

 She coursed about in a lively manner, first in one direction, 

 then in another, according as she was headed off, until she 

 was finally brought to bay through sheer fatigue, and one 

 of the men killed her with his revolver. 



The calf had, in the mean while, broken away and head- 

 ed straight for the low rolling bluffs or hillocks about two 

 miles distant from the stream. This brought it across our 

 path, so the leader and myself concluded to lasso it with 

 some heavy ropes that we carried. 



Starting in pursuit, we followed it down a trail, then up 

 the bluffs ; but I found that the famous buffalo-runner I 

 bestrode was far behind in the chase, and that I could not 

 even keep in sight of my companion. I therefore slowed 

 down to a walk, and gave way to a vigorous rumination 

 about the man who introduced me to his horse. While 

 engaged in this unpleasant meditation I espied a calf a few 

 yards away, and concluded to see if I could not have bet- 

 ter luck with that than the previous one. Riding slowly 

 toward it, and as much under shelter as the ground would 



