48 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



cut bank that was probably eight feet high, and taking in 

 the surroundings at a glance, I came up right over him on 

 top of the cut bank. He gave a snort and a deep, hoarse 

 bellow and getting on to his three feet began to hook the 

 cut bank, throwing the clay all over his back. I knew he 

 could not get at me without going up or down the ravine 

 several rods, and so I stood and watched him a little while 

 — he was mad and awful savage. I then shot him in the 

 head and he fell to the ground and did not try to rise again. 

 Jolly now came up puffing and blowing, for he was too 

 short of wind to run in that high altitude without getting 

 out of breath. He put in the final shot and the great brute 

 rolled over on his side. I had read and heard much about 

 the great size of the buffalo but this one looked larger to 

 me than I had supposed them to be. Jolly by this time had 

 lost his grouch and we both felt very proud and well sat- 

 isfied with our kill. We cut out what meat we could carry 

 and went back to camp which was probably not over two 

 miles away. Getting help, and horses to pack the meat on, 

 we returned and cut all the best of the meat from the bones, 

 leaving the carcass to the wolves, the ravens and the buz- 

 zards. The other party returned at evening with all the 

 meat they could carry, but I do not remember how many 

 buffalo were killed. We cut the meat in thin strips, salted 

 it slightly, and dried it in the sun, smoke, and heat of the 

 fire. This took three or four days. We had all the meat 

 we could afford to spend time to cure, besides an abund- 

 ance of fresh meat for several days. In that dry climate 

 and high altitude fresh meat will keep for a long time with- 

 out spoiling. Without this supply of meat our provisions 

 would have run low long before reaching a place where 

 supplies could be had. We did run short as it was, before 

 reaching our journey's end, as will be seen in another chap- 

 ter. 



