The Last of the Buffalo 



waiting in camp merely for fresh meat, 

 and we were to go out, hunt, and over- 

 take the command at their night's camp. 



The next day after we had reached the 

 buffalo range we started out long before 

 the eastern sky was gray, and were soon 

 riding off over the chilly prairie. The 

 trail which the command was to follow 

 ran a little north of east; and we kept to 

 the south and away from it, believing that 

 in this direction we would find the game, 

 and that if we started them they would 

 run north or northwest, against the wind, 

 so that we could kill them near the trail. 

 Until some time after the sun had risen 

 we saw nothing larger than antelope ; but 

 at length, from the top of a high hill, we 

 could see far away to the east dark dots 

 on the prairie, which we knew could only 

 be buffalo. They were undisturbed too ; 

 for, though we watched them for some 

 time, we could detect no motion in their 

 ranks. 



It took us nearly two hours to reach 

 the low, broken buttes on the north side 

 of which the buffalo were ; and, riding 

 up on the easternmost of these, we tried 

 to locate our game more exactly. It was 

 important to get as close as possible before 

 starting them, so that our first rush might 



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