AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 227 



one somewhere in the herd. Then there was more 

 commotion and it was evident the u stand" was at 

 an end. 



" Give it to 'em, everybody," the old hunter now 

 said, and a fusillade followed that soon put them 

 under full speed. 



The hunters now mounted their horses and made 

 a "run" on the band that resulted in some very 

 exciting sport and the death of three more buffaloes. 

 This over, they returned to the scene of the first 

 firing and gralloched the seven animals killed "on 

 the stand." Then they mounted their tired beasts 

 again and were on the point of starting for camp 

 when they heard strange noises, and looking toward 

 the west beheld a great black surging mass, waving 

 and rolling up across the prairie, half hidden by 

 great clouds of dust which were only occasionally 

 blown away by the brisk autumn wind. It was the 

 great herd of buffalo, and they had been stampeded 

 by the Indian hunters. The roar of the hoofs upon 

 the dry earth was like the low and sullen thunder. 

 The vanguard of the herd was yet more than a mile 

 away, but the dark line stretched to right and left 

 almost as far as the eye could reach, and our hunters 

 saw that instant and precipitate flight was necessary 

 in order to save their lives. They specially chose the 

 northward as offering the shortest and best direction 

 by which to escape the coming avalanche, and sinking 

 the spurs deep into their terror-stricken beasts, they 

 flew with the velocity of an arrow across the wild 

 prairie. A mile was covered in a few seconds, and 

 yet they were not past the herd, which was rapidly 

 closing in upon them. 



