The Thundering Herd 67 



bones and partial skeletons of perhaps 

 twenty buffalo. These grim reminders of 

 the tragedy that had occurred at some not 

 distant date at the bottom of the gulch 

 were lying rather close together, just as the 

 struggling mass must have fallen. 



There were no signs of a piskun, although 

 that may have been the cause of their death, 

 or perhaps it was a wild stampede upon a 

 dark night. Maybe the herd had been 

 cowering in the darkness, standing in a 

 rather compact bunch while a thunder- 

 storm was in progress. Presently a peal of 

 thunder more terrible than its predecessors, 

 or a brighter flash of lightning, may have 

 turned loose that madness known as the 

 stampede in their midst. Or it may have 

 been brought about by some quite ridicu- 

 lous cause. Perhaps it was broad daylight, 

 and the passing of a cloud shadow, or some 

 unusual noise may have brought on the 

 fatal tragedy. 



