BUFFALOES 



from the companionship of lordly herds. They 

 were one of the few bands left as a reminder of 

 the countless numbers that but a few years be- 

 fore had held the country for miles and miles as 

 their own undisputed domain. 



Repeatedly 1 listened with interest as Casper, 

 an old plainsman who for several years made his 

 home with us, would tell me of a thrilling ex- 

 perience we had in the spring of 1871. I was 

 but a babe in my mother's arms at the time. 

 But it has been so deeply impressed upon my 

 imagination it seems as though I must have felt 

 and understood it. Early one morning a much 

 frightened and excited ranchman rode to our 

 "dugout" and informed us that he had shot 

 two Sioux Indians out of a party of five who 

 had been stealing some of his cattle. He feared 

 there would be an Indian "outbreak" and was 

 warning the settlers that they might prepare to 

 go to the Fort for protection until peace again 

 reigned. In those days the frontiersman was 

 never free from the anxiety of attack by some 

 band of hostile Indians. Many a defenceless 

 farmer or his lone family during these Indian 

 "outbreaks" lost their lives through a sneak- 

 ["3] 



