AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 225 



Prank's face darkened and his eye gleamed, but lie 

 said nothing. Soon after dark, however, he was 

 missing, and did not turn up again till near noon the 

 next day. He had a different horse from the one he 

 rode away; not so good a one, it is true, and there 

 were two bullet holes in his coat. He was reticent 

 and uncommunicative as to where he had been, but 

 wore a very pleased expression on his countenance, 

 and was occasionally seen to smile when not talking 

 with anyone. 



The majority of the hunters mounted and rode 

 southwest early in the morning. Seven men in one 

 party sighted a herd of buffaloes numbering about 

 200, and dismounting, when within a mile, cached 

 their horses in a coulee, and began a cautious 

 advance. 



They found a deep and crooked ravine into which 

 they crawled, and in which they were able to ap- 

 proach to within about 400 yards of the nearest ani- 

 mals. A gentle breeze blew from the game toward 

 the hunters, and taking advantage of the most favor- 

 able point, they crawled up the steep bank to where 

 they could command a good view of the game. The 

 "tenderfeet" in the party were in favor of firing a 

 volley, but an old hunter who had led them 

 advised them to fire singly, and at intervals of a 

 minute or two, this plan being much less likely to 

 frighten the game. He cautioned them to take very 

 careful aim, to make every shot count, and to wound 

 as few animals as possible. One slightly wounded 

 animal, he said, would create more uneasiness among 

 the herd than ten dead or fatally wounded ones. 



Several of this party were good marksmen, and 



15 



