THE WOUNDED BULL. 231 



river, and at this point one of tlie party espied a 

 small herd of bisons at a considerable distance 

 off. Mr. Culbertson, after searching for them 

 with the telescope, handed it to us and showed 

 Tis where they were. They were all lying down 

 and appeared perfectly unconscious of the exist- 

 ence of our party. Our vehicles and horses 

 were now turned towards them and we travelled 

 cautiously to within about a quarter of a mile of 

 the herd, covered by a high ridge of land which 

 concealed us from their view. The wind was 

 favourable, (blowing towards us,) and now the 

 hunters threw aside their coats, tied handker- 

 chiefs around their heads, looked to their guns, 

 mounted their steeds, and moved slowly and 

 cautiously towards the game. The rest of the 

 party crawled carefully to the top of the ridge to 

 see the chase. At the word of command, given 

 by Mr. Culbertson, the hunters dashed forward 

 after the bulls, which already began to run off in 

 a line nearly parallel with the ridge we were 

 upon. The swift horses, urged on by their eager 

 riders and their own impetuosity, soon began to 

 overtake the affrighted animals ; two of them 

 separated from the others and were pursued by 

 Mr. Culbertson and Mr. Bell; presently the 

 former fired, and we could see that he had 

 wounded one of the bulls. It stopped after 

 going a little way, and stood with its head hang- 



