i88 THE OX FAMILY 



it. It was attended with little difficulty and practically 

 no danger from the quarry at least. The hard riding, 

 like any hard riding, has always an element of danger.* 

 The horse or pony may put his foot in a prairie-dog 

 burrow or other hole. There is the danger of suddenly 

 coming upon some unseen depression or other bad 

 ground, especially when the ground is covered with 

 the tufted shrubs of wild sage. 



One day, when we had great difficulty in bringing 

 down our wagons from the Wolf Mountains into the 

 valley of the Tongue River, I decided, while the 

 wagons were coming down, to go in pursuit of a herd 

 which we observed grazing in the valley below. No 

 one cared to accompany me, and I set out alone. I 

 was riding an Indian pony, which seemed thoroughly 

 to enjoy chasing buffaloes. He was one of the best 

 mounts I ever had for this sport. Moving slowly 

 across the plain, which was overgrown with sage- 

 bushes, I kept my eye on the bison, ready to put spurs 

 to the pony as soon as they took the alarm. There 

 was no cover under which I could approach, and I 

 expected the chase to be a long one, since the buffaloes 

 in the neighborhood were used to the guns and exceed- 

 ingly wild. While I was more than a half-mile away 

 the bison started and went off at a rapid gait. Putting 



* That experienced buffalo hunter, Colonel Dodge, says: " I have never 

 known of a man hurt by a buffalo, but have know^n of six injured by falling 

 horses." 



Captain Bonneville tells of an Indian boy killed by a buffalo bull. 



Charles Reynolds, the chief of scouts at Fort Smith, told Mr. Grinnell 

 that a wounded cow killed his brother, and there are other records of a 

 chase ending fatally. Such occurrences are, however, extremely uncom- 

 mon. 



