282 BUFFALO LAND. 



cate a young bison bull, and accordingly took it to his 

 home at Cincinnati. Proving a cross customer, he 

 presented it to the Longview Lunatic Asylum, near 

 that city, but there was no inmate insane enough to 

 occupy the yard simultaneously with Taurus for any 

 length of time. The first day he charged among the 

 lunatics in a reckless manner, eliciting surprising ac- 

 tivity of crazy legs. If exercise for their minds was 

 what the ' poor creatures needed, they certainly 

 obtained it, by calculating wlien and where to dodge. 



Without loss of time, we set about finding a gate- 

 way into the herds. Looking at the surface before 

 us, it appeared a level, unbroken plain, quite to the 

 verge where it rolled up against the distant horizon. 

 One would have maintained that even a ditch, if there, 

 miiiht be traced in its meanderini>-s across the smooth 

 brown floor. Yet deep ravines, miles in length, 

 wound in and out among the herds, though to us en- 

 tirely invisible. A short search discovered one of 

 these, which promised to answer our purpose, and to 

 lead to a spot where a large number of cows and calves 

 were feeding. Fortunately the wind was north, so 

 that we could creep into its teeth without sending to 

 the timid mothers any tell-tale taint. 



The wagons were stopped, and we got out, and de- 

 scending into the hollow, moved forward. The walls 

 on either side seemed disagreeably close. All around 

 us was animal life, a small portion of which would 

 have been sufficient, if so disposed, to make the con- 

 cealed path which we were traversing a veritable 

 "last ditch" to us. As we entered the ravine, some 

 cayotes slunk out of it ahead of us, and one large 



