290 BIG GAME OP NOKTH AMERICA. 



chased by a mounted hunter, crossed our road half a mile 

 in front of the wagons, and although we tried hard to head 

 them off, we failed to secure one. A few miles farther on, 

 we met a hunting-party leaving the range, and leading 

 behind their wagon a horse which had evidently been used 

 for running Buffaloes, and whose breast was ripped open in 

 a most horrible manner, a long slit commencing between the 

 fore legs and running up clear to the bottom of the neck. 

 We inquired the cause of the horse's wound, and were 

 told that it was caused by the collar of the harness, the 

 unlucky hunter evidently being unwilling to confess his 

 failure to stop the charge of an infuriated Buffalo bull 

 with the breast of his untrained horse. 



Wearing the Republican River, we met a man driving a 

 pony -team, and inquired of him where the main herd of 

 Buffaloes was. He replied : ' ' Cross the river at the first ford 

 you can find, go out on the hills to the south, and the whole 

 world is black ! ' ' 



Eagerly we pressed on, forded the shallow stream which 

 ran swiftly over its wide bed of sand, and, gaining the south 

 bank of the river, drove toward a grove of cotton- woods a 

 mile or two above, to find fuel necessary for camp use. 



As we turned the horses' heads up-stream, a large bull 

 Buffalo appeared, walking rapidly from a ravine in the low 

 hills to our left, across the bottom-land, toward the river. 

 The day was fearfully hot, and the great brute was mani- 

 festly eager for water. Catching sight of the approaching 

 wagons, he stopped to look, but apparently reassured by 

 the slowness of our approach, he again walked swiftly on. 



He was now less than half a mile distant, and while Y , 



who had seen such sights a thousand times, coolly con- 

 tinued the advance, driving the leading team, the other 

 team was left to follow the wagon in front, while three 

 excited tenderfeet, snatching their guns from the wagons, 

 crept along close behind the leading wagon, watching, 

 with strangely beating hearts the advance of the mighty 

 bull. He was very uneasy, and again stopped and gazed 

 ii few seconds at his advancing foes; then once again his 



