TEN DAYS IN MONTANA. 149 



news that at last we had reached the buffaloes ! They said there 



*were five very large ones grazing in a valley just beyond the 



butte where they had halted, and that the lay of the ground 



was such as to give us every advantage in approaching them. 



We plied spur and whip, and in a few minutes were as 

 near the quarry as it was safe to go with the teams. Here we 

 dismounted, gave the teams in charge of Kelly, and the sad- 

 dle horses in charge of a man detailed to hold them. Major 

 Bell then crawled to the top of an adjacent ridge to recon- 

 noiter. When he returned he said we were within two hun- 

 dred yards of them, and that they had not yet discovered us ; 

 that we were squarely to leeward of them, and that a friendly 

 rise of ground near them would enable us to shorten the dis- 

 tance by at least one half before they could possibly discover 

 us. 



We then formed in line and started for the top of this 

 ridge. We moved cautiously, slowly, silently. No one 

 spoke above a whisper. The soldiers held their triggers back 

 while cocking their carbines, so as to perform the operation 

 in perfect silence. Those of us who had hammerless rifles 

 pulled the safety triggers back so carefully that they gave forth 

 no sound. 



We are now so near the apex of the ridge it is necessary 

 to stoop low to conceal ourselves from the game ; but still we 

 press silently, breathlessly forward. Now we are as near the 

 summit as we dare go without giving the alarm. We pause, 

 raise our heads, and peer cautiously over. And what a sub- 

 lime, what a magnificent sight greets our eager eyes ! There, 

 down in that little swale, within less than a hundred yards of 

 us, stand five of as noble specimens of the American bison as 

 were ever seen upon these plains. They are all large bulls, old 

 patriarchs of the herd, and they have not yet seen, heard or 

 scented us. They arc quietly grazing, totally unconscious of 



