1 40 HUNTING TRIPS 



and so followed them, though they had over 

 a mile's start. For seven or eight miles we 

 loped our jaded horses along at a brisk 

 pace, occasionally seeing the buffalo far 

 ahead; and finally, when the sun had just 

 set, we saw that all three had come to a 

 stand in a gentle hollow. There was no 

 cover anywhere near them; and, as a last 

 desperate resort, we concluded to try to run 

 them on our worn-out ponies. 



As we cantered toward them they faced 

 us for a second and then turned round and 

 made off, while with spurs and quirts we 

 made the ponies put on a burst that enabled 

 us to close in with the wounded one just 

 about the time that the lessening twilight 

 had almost vanished; while the rim of the 

 full moon rose above the horizon. The 

 pony I was on could barely hold its own, 

 after getting up within sixty or seventy 

 yards of the wounded bull ; my companion, 

 better mounted, forged ahead, a little to one 

 side. The bull saw him coming and swerved 

 from his course, and by cutting across I 



