84 The King of the Thundering Herd 



the thunder of the myriad hoofs, and the 

 rocking and trembling of the earth under 

 him. But even these sounds soon ceased 

 for him, and he and his brother slept. 



When he again opened his eyes, the sun 

 was shining brightly and the clouds of dust 

 that had obscured the moon when he fell 

 asleep had been partly dissipated. Here 

 and there he could see an occasional buffalo 

 galloping southward, but the mighty herd, 

 whose numbers had seemed like the stars, 

 was gone. 



" It's the tail end of the procession, boy," 

 called Bennie's father. " The last install- 

 ment went by about fifteen minutes ago. 

 I did not dream that bison could be found 

 in such numbers in Western Missouri at the 

 present time. I had supposed the few scat- 

 tering head that we saw were all that were 

 left in the state." 



This conclusion of Mr. Anderson's was 

 quite right, but this autumn, for some un- 



