204 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
to the very head: the bull vomits blood and falls: be- 
yond him on the grass is the arrow; it passes through, 
where a rifle ball would have stopped and flattened ere 
it had made half the journey. 
Here are two buffalo bulls side by side; they make 
the earth tremble by their measured tread; their sides 
are reeking with sweat. Already have they been sin- 
gled out. Approaching them are two horsemen; upon 
the head of one glistens the silvery hair of age; the 
small leggins also betray the old man: the other is just 
entering the prime of life; every thing about him is 
sound, full, and sleek. The old man compresses his 
mouth into a mere line; the eye is open and steady as a 
basilisk; the skin inanimate. The eyes of the young 
man dance with excitement, the blood flows quickly 
through the dark skin; and gives a feverish look to his 
lip and cheek. What a tale is told in these differences 
of look! how one seems reaching into the future, and 
the other going back to the past! 
He of the flushed cheek touches his quiver, the bow 
is bent, the arrow speeds its way and penetrates its vic- 
tim. The old man—he too takes an arrow, slowly he 
places it across his bow, then bending it as if to make 
its ends meet, he leans forward—sends the arrow home 
—the bull falls, while the one first wounded pursues his 
way. The old man gives a taunting shout as a token 
of his success. 
The young warrior, confused by his want of skill, 
