"THERE'S A BUFFERLEIt ! " 381 



which happened thus : As we were wandering 

 among the Mexican teamsters loafing around the de- 

 pot, an urchin, with half a shirt and very crooked 

 legs, ran up to us, and exclaimed, over a half mas- 

 ticated morsel of cheese, "Mister, there's a buffer- 

 ler ! ' His crumby fingers pointed in a direction 

 midway between the horizon and a Mexican donkey, 

 which its owner was trying to drag across the val- 

 ley, and there, true enough, on the side of a brown 

 ridge, not a mile off, we saw the game, feeding as 

 usual. 



Here was a chance for horseback hunting again, 

 which we had not attempted for several days. And 

 what a splendid opportunity of showing the natives 

 how well we could do the thing! Our wagons had 

 groaned under the burden of pelts and meats with 

 which we had loaded them, and we were suffering 

 just then from that dangerous confidence which first 

 success is so apt to inspire. 



Half the pleasure of hunting, if sportsmen would 

 but confess it, consists in showing one's trophies to 

 others. It was not at all surprising, therefore, that 

 the send-off found two-thirds of our force in the field. 

 The day was warm, and, though the hunters ran far 

 and fast, the bison went still further and faster, and 

 escaped. He led us, however, to greater spoil than 

 his own tough carcass ; for underneath the sod which 

 his hoofs spurned, lay a treasure which glittered as 

 temptingly to geological eyes as gold to the miner, 

 when first struck by his prospecting pick. 



The Professor trotted out of town with becoming 



dignity, following the hunters merely to avail him- 

 21 



