Chapter Yl 



THE MAN HUNTERS 



One evening one of the young forest dwellers came to 

 my tent with unaccustomed haste to tell me that his 

 brother had just been killed by a buffalo. It appeared 

 that several of them, armed merely with bows and ar- 

 rows, had attempted to shoot the ''King" of a dangerous 

 herd; for in every herd of buffalo there is a leader or 

 King who is generally the strongest and fiercest of them 

 all. This wild buffalo had charged at sight, knocked down 

 his victim, and full of rage at having been hunted pro- 

 ceeded to vent it upon this unfortunate man. The poor 

 fellow was terribly smashed up and died a short while 

 afterwards. 



The tragedy was recited to me in detail, and as I 

 listened to the lurid story, a great feeling of pity came 

 over me; added to that was a strong desire to exterminate 

 the brute who had taken from me one of my forest 

 friends, and in the hearing of all present I promised to 

 hunt down the buffalo and have revenge. Turning to 

 the boy I said, 'T have heard your story. You will sleep 

 under my tent flap to be near at hand, and to-morrow 

 very early we will start out together; and I will not rest 

 until I have slain the buffalo which killed your brother." 



60 



