266 The King of the Thundering Herd 



very good, being short, thick, fine bunch 

 grass. Thus it came about that when the 

 robe-hunters pressed the northern herd, then 

 roaming in the Dakotas and Montana, too 

 hard, many of the bison took refuge in the 

 Canadian prairies and finally they did not 

 go back, even when the cold winters swept 

 down upon these desolate plains, More 

 than the stinging blast and the cutting ice- 

 storm, and the deep snow which covered the 

 grass, they feared the hail from the white 

 hunter's thunder-stick. Buck and his little 

 band of fifty stragglers, who had escaped 

 from the United States soldiers, were the last 

 of the northern herd to leave the United 

 States, and take refuge in Canada, where they 

 found that their kind had been before them. 

 Like the plains of the Dakotas, these Cana- 

 dian prairies were furrowed by the buffalo 

 path, leading from lake to river, and to the 

 best feeding-grounds. The bison's rubbing 

 posts were everywhere that a tree large 



