130 BUFFALO LAND, 



i 



ful for the rest. The hour of dusk, of all others, is 

 the time for musing, and almost involuntarily our 

 minds wandered back a twelve-month, when the 

 plains were a solitude. No railroad, no houses, no 

 tokens of civilization save only a few solitary posts, 

 garrisoned with corporal's guards, and surrounded by 

 red fiends thirsty for blood. Such was the picture 

 then ; now, the clangor of a city echoed through Big 

 Creek Valley. 



While wondering at the change, away on the hills 

 to our right there rose a thundering tread, like the 

 marching of a mighty multitude. Shamus, who sat 

 directly facing the hill, saw something which chilled 

 the Dobeen blood, and caused that noble Irishman to 

 plunge behind us. Mr. Colon, who had given a 

 startled turn of the head over his right shoulder, ex- 

 claimed, " Bless me, what's that?" The glance of 

 Muggs froze that Briton so completely that he failed 

 to tell us of ever having seen a more "hextraor- 

 dinary thing in Hingland." I am in doubt whether 

 even our grave professor did not imagine for the mo- 

 ment that the mammalian age was taking a tilt 

 at us. 



Gathering twilight had magnified what in broad day 

 would have been an apparition sufficiently startling 

 to any new arrival in Buffalo Land. A long line of 

 black, shaggy forms was standing on the crest and 

 looking down upon us. It had come forward like the 

 rush of a hungry wave, and now remained as one 

 uplifted, dark and motionless. In bold relief against 

 the horizon stood an array of colossal figures, all 

 bristling with sharp points, which at first sight 



