A Strange Ride 147 



was that he left no trail which an inquisi- 

 tive and hostile Indian could translate as 

 connected with a white man. Bison-tracks 

 covered the earth in all directions, and 

 Buck's were just like the rest. If he had 

 been riding a pony, Bennie did not doubt 

 that he would have had a bunch of Indians 

 trailing him long before. Since he traveled 

 upon a buffalo, however, his most advan- 

 tageous course was to keep where the bison 

 were most plentiful ; so he went in the 

 thick of the herd. 



Three weeks more he journeyed to the 

 northwest, going along the course of the 

 Missouri, or keeping near to it, and the 

 wonder of the land and the countless incon- 

 ceivable host of the bison grew upon him 

 all the time. Three weeks more carried 

 him well up into what is now Southern 

 Dakota, and still the numbers of bison 

 grew, rather than diminished. But what 

 would our young explorer have thought 



