368 FAIRY RINGS 



side so that, at the moment of passing, the rider can turn 

 in his saddle and aim at the shoulder. Directly the 

 horse feels that his master has had time to give the death- 

 blow he sheers off at once, without giving a chance for a 

 second shot, for horses are very nervous and timid 

 creatures, and have a very keen sense of possible danger. 



If the hunters are many, and the herd a large one, 

 there are sure to be a number of accidents both to men 

 and horses, and indeed the thick dust often makes it 

 difficult to see clearly till it is too late. Often, too, both 

 men and horses get so excited that they forget their 

 prudence, and at last have to fling themselves from their 

 horses and trust to their own legs, or save themselves 

 only by tearing off the buffalo skin which forms a waist- 

 belt, and dashing it over the eyes of the buffalo. 



When a great hunt of this kind is over — and it is 

 wonderful how short a time it lasts — the Indians lead 

 their horses through the battlefield, drawing out their 

 arrows from their dead prey, and seeing by the private 

 marks on the arrows themselves how much of the spoil 

 belongs to each man. This business settled, a council is 

 called, and the hunters seat themselves in a ring on the 

 ground, smoking their long, gaily decorated pipes. Then, 

 men and horses having had a rest, they ride quietly back 

 to the encampment. 



The first thing to be done on reaching the village is 

 to choose out some of the braves to inform the chief of 

 the success of the expedition— how many buffaloes have 

 been killed, and how many horses or men have been lost. 

 Next, all the women and children are sent off to bring 

 back the meat, and a hard task it is, for they have to skin 

 the animals and cut them up, besides carrying them 

 home, and it seems as if the weaker ones might die on 

 the way. 



In the winter, when the Indian is in need of meat, he 

 has to trust to his own cunning to get it, for in the colder 

 parts of the country the horse cannot be used at all for 



