A Strange Ride 145 



and he now began to see buffalo in such 

 numbers that he was again reminded of the 

 great herd they had seen in Northern 

 Missouri four years before. 



Every slope upon the prairie was dotted 

 with them, buffalo feeding and lying 

 down, bulls and cows, calves and yearlings ; 

 rusty old bulls with their coat, much of 

 which was still unshed, hanging in tatters, 

 and sleek young bulls shining like satin ; 

 nervous young heifers with their first 

 calves, and demure old cows that had 

 mothered many a sturdy calf. 



Not only was the landscape literally 

 covered with bison, but their signs were 

 everywhere : buffalo trails leading to the 

 creeks cut three feet deep in the solid 

 earth ; cotton woods and sycamores entirely 

 stripped of their bark in the rubbing proc- 

 ess, the turf, in good feeding places, liter- 

 ally covered with buffalo chips. This in 

 turn enriched the grass and made the next 



