218 GREAT SLAUGHTER 
concealed himself from their sight. In fact, 
_ their scent being acute, they seem to depend 
more upon it than their sight; for if a gang 
of buffalo be frightened, from any quarter 
whatever, they are apt to shape their course 
against the wind, that they may scent an 
enemy in their way. 
If the hunter succeed in ‘bringing down’ 
his first shot, he may frequently kill several 
out of the same herd; for, should the game 
neither see nor smell him, they may hear the 
rifle cracks, and witness their companions fall 
one after another, without heeding, except to 
raise their heads, and perhaps start a little at 
each report. They would seem to fancy that 
the fallen are only lying down to rest, and 
they are loth to leave them. On one occa- 
sion, upon the Cimarron river, I saw some 
ten or a dozen buffaloes lying upon a few 
acres of ground, all of which had been shot 
from the same herd by a couple of our hunt- 
ers. Had not the gang been frightened by 
the approaching caravan, perhaps a dozen 
more of them might have fallen. 
A dextrous hunter will sometimes ‘crawl 
upon’ a gang of buffalo, on a perfectly level 
plain. As their sight is at best not acute, an 
is always more or less obscured by the shaggy 
hair of their foreheads, they will hardly ob- 
Serve an approaching enemy when they are 
feeding, unless the wind bears them the scent. 
The hunter is, therefore, careful to ‘have the 
wind’ of them, and crawls slowly and closely 
‘upon the ground, until within gun-shot. If 
