182 The King of the Thundering Herd 



protected flanks, this was the bison's form 

 of warfare. 



But challenging everything that he met 

 soon brought Buck an adversary that tried 

 his last ounce of strength and his utmost 

 cunning, and even then he might have paid 

 the price of his life for his belligerence, had 

 not chance favored him. 



It was about a week after Buck's first 

 meeting with the young bison heifer, and 

 that diversion had partly worn off and he 

 was ripe for another venture. This morn- 

 ing, after getting his fill of grass, he had been 

 restlessly roaming up and down, uttering 

 defiant bellows and putting smaller bulls to 

 flight almost as soon as they saw him, when 

 he came to a high butte about two miles 

 back from the creek which he was then 

 following. There was a small herd of ma- 

 ture bulls about the base of the butte and 

 there was some excitement among them, 

 for they moved restlessly to and fro. 



