Ifcfngs of tbe 1Rot> IRffle, anfc Oun 



beast came on upon us. * He'll tread on us soon/ I 

 whispered to Bayard, ' and we shall have to fire up his 

 nose ! ' and when I looked at the bull again, and then 

 at myself and Bayard, I could not help thinking what 

 mere frogs we were in the grass, compared to our giant 

 foe. And supposing he took it into his head at once to 

 charge, what would then become of us ? I had scarcely 

 made this last observation when his companion bison, 

 some hundred yards' distance, who had observed the 

 herd to which they belonged moving away, walked off, 

 and our game lifted his head not twenty yards from us, 

 to look at him. ' He's going to turn,' whispered Bayard ; 

 and accordingly the bison did turn with an evident 

 intention of walking after his companion, when at that 

 moment, and with steady aim, our rifles were fired, and 

 then together we fell flat upon our faces. We had not 

 the least doubt but that we had wounded him mortally 

 my aim as well as my ear assured me of that fact when 

 having given a moment's space in order that if the bull 

 had looked towards the position of the noise he might 

 have satisfied himself that no enemy was there to be 

 seen, we both raised our foreheads sufficiently to observe 

 that the hump was moving slowly away to our right, and 

 then gradually it disappeared in a fashion to indicate 

 lying down rather than a direct fall. The monster was 

 still not much above forty yards from us, and very 

 probably, if not dead, as furiously savage as a mortally 

 stricken beast of the size and age could be. 



And now became manifest the great superiority, in 

 situations such as this, of the breech-loader over the 

 muzzle-loader. I dared not for the life of me, kneel up 



