A HARD GALLOP 



many narrow escapes. Only a few days before an old 

 buffalo bull had objected to his presence, and had run 

 him pretty hard, run him until his horse got into some 

 soft ground and stuck fast. Fortunately, however, the 

 buffalo had stuck too, with the result that the man had 

 had time to dismount and climb a tree, where he was 

 forced to remain for several hours. One interesting 

 fact — it was a sad one also — was that the buffalo calves 

 were usually delicate. During one year every calf had 

 died. Lately the position has improved, and although 

 it is still possible that restraint may prove fatal to the 

 remaining handful of buffalo, the Government is doing 

 all that is humanly possible to preserve the species from 

 extinction. If in the end the efforts prove of no avail, 

 no one will be to blame. I have heard travellers criticise 

 many things in the United States, but only a fool could 

 find fault with the management of the Yellowstone 

 Park. 



After lunching at the keeper's house we went up 

 into the hills in quest of some elk of which he had 

 told us. But somehow the buffalo seemed to haunt us. 

 We had another adventure with a soHtary old bull, 

 which forced us to indulge in a second hard gallop. 

 No sooner had we got rid of him than we blundered 

 into another irate brute. At first we could not under- 

 stand his tactics. He wanted to drive us off, yet he did 

 not seem to know how to set about the job. Still, we 

 knew our part in the game and rode off speedily. It 



3" 



