296 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



little weasel killed three fine brant geese, purely for the love of 

 murder; and then he departed this life by the powder-and-lead 

 route. 



All the year round captive buffalo bulls are given to fighting, 

 and for one bull to injure or kill another is an occurrence all 

 too common. Even in the great twenty-seven thousand acre 

 reserve of the Corbin Blue Mountain Forest Association, fatal 

 fights sometimes occur. It was left to a large buU named 

 Black Beauty, in our Zoological Park herd, to reveal the 

 disagreeable fact that under certain circumstances a buffalo 

 may become a cunning and deliberate assassin. 



In the spring of 1904, a new buffalo buU, named Apache, 

 was added to the portion of our herd which up to that time 

 had been dominated by Black Beauty. We expected the usual 

 head-to-head battle for supremacy, succeeded by a period of 

 peace and quiet. It is the law of the herd that after every 

 contest for supremacy the vanquished bull shall accept the 

 situation philosophically, and thereafter keep his place. 



At the end of a half-hour of fierce struggle, head-to-head, 

 Black Beauty was overpowered by Apache, and fled from him 

 into the open range. To emphasize his victory, Apache fol- 

 lowed him around and around at a quiet walk, for several 

 hours; but the beaten bull always kept a factor of safety of 

 about two hundred feet between himself and the master of 

 the herd. Convinced that Black Beauty would no longer 

 dispute his supremacy, Apache at last pronounced for peace 

 and thought no more about the late unpleasantness. His rival 

 seemed to accept the situation, and rejoined the herd on the 

 subdued status of an ex-president. 



For several days nothing occurred; but all the while Black 

 Beauty was biding his time and watching for an opportunity. 

 At last it came. As Apache lay dozing and ruminating on a 

 sunny hill-side, his beaten rival quietly drifted around his 

 resting-place, stealthily secured a good position, and, without 

 a second's warning plunged his sharp horns deep into the 



