Boots and Saddles 243 



bleating of their offspring as they saw their 

 mothers pitch headlong and fall kicking 

 in the new snow. Blood was everywhere ; 

 even little rivulets, that trickled down the 

 sides of the mountains, ran red. 



Nor was this battle, the last fight of the 

 great herd, now barely five hundred, en- 

 tirely one-sided. Occasionally an old bull or 

 a desperate cow mortally wounded charged 

 home ; then the troopers had to get out of 

 the way or some one got hurt. 



As a result of these death charges, one 

 trooper was lying in camp with a broken 

 leg and two fractured ribs, while two 

 horses lay dead among buffalo. Four 

 others had been so badly injured that they 

 were useless, and were now tethered in 

 camp. 



Colonel Roosevelt, as well as several 

 other hunters of big game, is of the opinion 

 that a wounded buffalo is one of the most 

 dangerous animals to face that there is. 



