WILD CATTLE. 153 



ardent sportsman, was not only profoundly ignorant of 

 what game ought to be found in Texas, but was the 

 ' greenest ' man in all practical affairs of frontier life that 

 ever fell into the hands of such a joker. He was made 

 to believe the most improbable stories, and to attempt 

 the most impracticable things. One morning the host 

 gravely proposed an elephant hunt. ' What ! ' said the 

 doctor in the greatest excitement, ' do you have ele- 

 phants out here?' 'Plenty of them,' said the host. 

 Preparations were at once commenced, and by 9 A.M. 

 a party of youngsters, ripe for the fun, were after 

 elephants. 



The doctor was fed with all sorts of stories, given 

 every kind of advice, and in the course of the morning 

 sent into every impossible place in search of elephants, 

 until he was well-nigh frantic with eagerness and disap- 

 pointment. 



When some five or six miles from the post, the 

 doctor was sent, through a thicket of ' wait-a-bit ' thorns, 

 of which he knew nothing. Anticipating rare sport at 

 his plight on his return, the host sat on his horse waiting, 

 when he heard a shot, and was soon after startled with 

 loud cries for help. 



Galloping through the glades he arrived at a small 

 prairie opening of an acre or two in extent, around 

 which the doctor was frantically urging his pony, while 

 only a few yards behind was a, huge wild bull in full 

 charge. All the manliness of the host was aroused by 

 this real and unexpected danger of his friend, and without 

 a moment's hesitation he dashed in and fired a pistol 

 shot. In an instant the bull turned upon him. His 

 large American horse was unequal to the emergency, 

 and in turning was met full in the side by the horns of 

 the beast. Both horse and rider were lifted for one 

 instant into the air, and then came down in a heap toge- 

 ther. The horse was dead without a struggle, one horn 

 being completely through his body, the other caught in 



