178 The King of the Thundering Herd 



was probably partly a longing for his kind, 

 for he was an alien in the settlement of 

 man. His place was in the great herds. 

 Man had stolen away his freedom. So free- 

 dom and a longing for his kind was a part 

 of his great desire, but there was still some- 

 thing else. 



He did not discover what it was until one 

 moonlight night when he had penetrated 

 far into the Dakotas. He had seen many 

 bison but had not become familiar with 

 them. It was as though he lacked the real 

 buffalo code or speech. None of his wild 

 kindred seemed to fraternize with him. 

 The bulls usually began pawing the dirt 

 about their heads and bellowing in an- 

 ger when he appeared, and the cows and 

 calves seemed rather afraid of him. The 

 fact was, Buck was a mighty buffalo bull, 

 larger by two or three hundred pounds than 

 any that he met. His work upon the farm 

 had made him much stronger than the 



