i8o THE OX FAMILY 



lower Yellowstone. General Miles had sent me the 

 horse, a large, handsome bay animal, on which to make 

 the journey from Fort Buford to his post, Fort Keogh, 

 some two hundred miles up the river. Although not a 

 very bad rider, I knew shortly after we set out on our 

 journey that my mount was likely to make trouble. 

 He began to give exhibitions of spirit, prancing and 

 cavorting about, rearing and kicking, and was hard 

 on the bit, and often ran away with me. The third day 

 out from Fort Buford (we were moving slowly with 

 a company of recruits who marched on foot) I rode 

 away from the valley with two friends (one of whom 

 was a lieutenant in General Miles's regiment, the Fifth 

 Infantry, and who knew the country) to seek the buffa- 

 loes, which were reported to be abundant on the plains 

 a few miles north of the river. We soon discovered a 

 large herd. The animals were distributed in bunches 

 and were all headed in one direction and grazing. We 

 approached under cover of a rise in the ground, and 

 stopping behind a somewhat circular knoll or small 

 hill, held a consultation as to the best means of getting 

 nearer. The buffaloes were still a long way off, on an 

 almost level plain. The lieutenant had killed so many 

 that he cared nothing about the shooting and pro- 

 posed making a long detour and stampeding the ani- 

 mals in our direction so that we could have a good 

 start and be sure of overtaking them. To the right of 

 the hill behind which we were concealed, there was a 

 wide depression (which they call a coulee or draw in 

 the West), and beyond this the plain rose and fell in 

 wide, gentle, grass-covered ridges which extended as 

 far as the eye could reach. The buffaloes were distant 



