WATCHING A LIVE BUFFALO. 27 



at night made of case-hardened iron, and these, on one occasion, 

 gave me a great deal of trouble. Seeing great quantities of 

 ducks in some ponds near camp, one of my companions and I 

 had our horses left for us, the waggon going on, and remained 

 to have a day's duck-shooting. We had capital sport and 

 returned to camp loaded, to find that my horse had been left 

 with the hobbles on, while the key had gone on with the 

 waggon. We tried breaking them with a stone, but found it 

 to be impossible, as we could not get a good blow at them ; so 

 I had to wait with the horse till far into the night, while my 

 companion rode after the waggon, nearly twenty miles, and 

 sent one of the men back with the key. 



Soon after this we returned to Fort Carlton, only one inci- 

 dent worth relating occurring on the way. I had run an old 

 bull some little distance, when we came to a narrow " groove " 

 in the prairie, looking almost like an old watercourse, and when 

 the buffalo went down this I remained on the bank above, 

 keeping parallel with him. After going a few hundred yards, 

 the hollow came to an abrupt end, forming a perfect cul- 

 de-sac, the banks being about ten feet high and quite 

 perpendicular. Here I got off my horse, and sitting on the 

 edge pelted the bull with earth ; and he kept rushing at the 

 bank, bringing down at each charge showers of dust and 

 stones. It was a splendid opportunity for watching a live 

 buffalo at close quarters, and I remained there and ate my 

 lunch, after which I rode off and left him. 



In this part of the country there were immense numbers of 

 prairie-dogs, whose towns extend sometimes for thirty or forty 

 miles, and make the prairie very unsafe to ride over on account 

 of their numerous burrows. They are very amusing little 



