1 74 SPOK TIXG A D VEXTURES 



ridden an average of fifty miles a day for ten days after 

 buffaloes with two American horses, whereas some of his 

 troopers, who were mounted on mustang-s, could scarcely keep 

 in sight of the herds after the fourth or fifth day. The most 

 famous scouts and buffalo-hunters that I met in the West were 

 dubious about using pure mustang-s in a long buffalo chase, 

 and I know for a fact that those deemed to be the most 

 successful did not employ them. I have ridden mustang's 

 in the chase on various occasions, but the greatest fault I 

 found with them was their propensity to bolt suddenly at 

 a rig'ht angle whenever a wounded buffalo assumed a 

 threatening attitude ; and if a person did not know this trick 

 he was liable to be thrown, and left to face the fury of a fierce 

 bull, or the hoofs of a maddened throng- that a precipice could 

 not swerve from their heedless course. 



This habit of breaking away the moment a shot is fired may 

 have its advantages ; but they are more than counterbalanced 

 by the disadvantages, and not the least of these is that a man 

 does not feel secure of his seat for five minutes together in a 

 headlong dash. Mustangs trained bv Indians are also accus- 

 tomed to run on the right of a herd, as that is the most con- 

 venient position for the red men in shooting their arrows; but 

 it is not always so to the pale-face, especially if he uses a revolver. 



One of the surest means of bagging a large number of 

 buffaloes is to remain about twenty or thirty feet behind a 

 herd, so as not to scatter the animals, and rake them forward, 

 so as to make a three-quartering shot through the ribs and 

 lungs; for if a person crowded on them they would push 

 away from him laterally, or break up into groups, and by this 

 means give him as much trouble to tumble over a dozen as it 

 would to kill three times that number. If a person has a fast 

 and trained horse, all he has to do is to throw the reins on his 

 neck and li'-e away, and he must be a poor shot indeed if he 

 cannot claim several trophies in a run of twenty minutes. 

 Experienced hunters kill one almost at every shot, or at least 

 cripple them so much that they cannot escape, so are subse- 

 quently captured. Dr. Carver, the famous rifleman, and, 

 probably the best buffalo-hunter in the world, has killed sixty- 



