52 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



spring from the ground and attack each other with amazing ad- 

 dress and fury, retreating for ten or twelve feet, and then rush- 

 ing suddenly forward, and dashing their enormous fronts together 

 with a shock that seemed annihilating. In these rencontres, one 

 of the combatants was often thrown back upon his haunches, 

 and tumbled sprawling upon the ground ; in which case, the vic- 

 tor, with true prizefighting generosity, refrained from persecut- 

 ing his fallen adversary, contenting himself with a hearty re- 

 sumption of his rolling fit, and kicking up the dust with more 

 than his former vigor, as if to celebrate his victory. 



This appeared to be a good situation to approach and kill the 

 buffalo, as, by reason of the plentiful distribution of the little 

 clay hills, an opportunity would be afforded of successful conceal- 

 ment ; we separated, therefore, each taking his own course. In 

 a very few minutes I heard the crack of a rifle in the direction 

 in which Richardson had gone, and immediately after saw the 

 frightened animals flying from the spot. The sound reverberated 

 among the hills, and as it died away the herd halted to watch 

 and listen for its repetition. For myself, I strolled on for nearly 

 an hour, leading my horse, and peering over every hill, in the 

 hope of finding a buffalo within range, but not one could I see 

 that was sufiiciently near ; and when I attempted the stealthy 

 approach which I had seen Richardson practise with so much 

 success, I felt compelled to acknowledge my utter insufficiency. 

 I had determined to kill a bufTalo, and as I had seen it several 

 times done with so much apparent ease, I considered it a mere 

 moonshine matter, and thought I could compass it without difficulty; 

 but now I had attempted it, and was grievously mistaken in my 

 estimate of the required skill. I had several times heard the 

 guns of the hunters, and felt satisfied that we should not go to 

 camp without meat, and was on the point of altering my course 

 to join them, when, as I wound around the base of a little hill, I 

 saw about twenty buffalo lying quietly on the ground within 



