Boots and Saddles 245 



Presently he espied an old bull, a mon- 

 arch of his kind, about a third of the way 

 up the mountainside. He was standing in 

 plain view looking down upon them. The 

 major called Benjamin Anderson, the 

 trooper who happened to be nearest to 

 him, and pointed out the buffalo. 



" You go up and finish him," he said. 

 "I guess he is the father of the whole 

 bunch." 



Ben, as the troopers called him, was a 

 good soldier although his heart was not in 

 this bloody work. So he went to execute 

 his officer's command. 



The young trooper rode his jaded horse 

 slowly up the slippery side of the moun- 

 tain as far as he could, and then throwing 

 the bridle-rein over his neck, proceeded on 

 foot the rest of the way. 



He had to go carefully as the snow was 

 beginning to freeze, and it crunched with 

 considerable noise under his feet. It was 



