72 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



When La Boiite had sufficiently admired the huffalo, he hfled 

 his rifle, and, taking steady aim, and certain of his mark, pulled 

 the trigger, expecting to see the huge beast fall over at the report. 

 What was his surprise and consternation, however, to see the 

 animal only flinch when the ball struck him, and then gallop 

 off followed by the others, apparently unhurt. As is generally 

 the case with greenhorns, he had fired too high, ignorant that 

 the only certain spot to strike a buffalo is but a few inches 

 above the brisket, and that a higher shot is rarely fatal. Wlien 

 he rose from the ground, he saw all the party halting in full 

 view of liis discomfiture ; and when he joined them, loud 

 were the laughs, and deep the regrets of the hungry at his first 

 attempt. 



However, they now knew that they were in the country of 

 meat ; and a few miles farther, another band of stragglers pre- 

 senting themselves, three of the hunters went in pursuit. La Bonte 

 taking a mule to pack in the meat. He soon saw them crawling 

 toward the band, and shortly two pufis of smoke, and the sharp 

 cracks of their rifles, showed that they had got within shot ; and 

 when he rode up, two fine buffaloes were stretched upon the ground. 

 Now, for the first time, he was initiated in the mysteries of " butch- 

 erino-." He watched the hunters as they turned the carcass on 

 the belly, stretching out the legs to support it on each side. A 

 transverse cut was then made at the nape of the neck, and, gath- 

 erino- the long hair of the boss in one hand, the skin was separated 

 from the shoulder. It was then laid open from this point to the 

 tail, along the spine, and then, freed from the sides and pulled 

 down to the brisket, but still attached to it, was stretched upon 

 the ground to receive the dissected portions. Then the shoulder 

 was severed, the fleece removed from along the back-bone, and the 

 hump-ribs cut oft^ with a tomahawk. All this was placed upon 

 the skin ; and after the " boudins" had been withdrawn from the 

 stomach, and the tongue — a great dainty — taken from the head, 



