246 The King of the Thundering Herd 



also hard to keep from sending it slipping 

 down the steep banks. 



At first he could not locate the old bull, 

 having lost sight of him in the ascent. He 

 was rather in hopes that the bison had 

 made good his escape, when he spied him 

 standing just as they had seen him a few 

 minutes before. 



Cautiously he crept forward. He had 

 left his carbine strapped to the saddle and 

 had only the army revolver with him. 

 This, however, was quite a deadly weapon, 

 although it was necessary to get very close 

 to kill an animal as tough as a bison. When 

 hunting the buffalo on the plains, the rider 

 usually comes up close to the bison's side 

 before trying to shoot him with a revolver. 



Benjamin continued to creep carefully 

 forward, going behind trees as much as he 

 could until within a hundred feet of the old 

 monarch, and then raised the revolver to 

 shoot. 



