94 AUDUBON 



handed my gun and balls to Owen McKenzie, and Bell 

 and I went to an eminence to view the chase. Owen ap- 

 proached the bull, which continued to advance, and was 

 now less than a quarter of a mile distant ; either it did not 

 see, or did not heed him, and they came directly towards 

 each other, until they were about seventy or eighty yards 

 apart, when the Buffalo started at a good run, and Owen's 

 mare, which had already had two hard runs this morning, 

 had great difficulty in preserving her distance. Owen, 

 perceiving this, breathed her a minute, and then applying 

 the whip was soon within shooting distance, and fired a 

 shot which visibly checked the progress of the bull, and 

 enabled Owen to soon be alongside of him, when the con- 

 tents of the second barrel were discharged into the lungs, 

 passing through the shoulder blade. This brought him 

 to a stand. Bell and I now started at full speed, and as 

 soon as we were within speaking distance, called to Owen 

 not to shoot again. The bull did not appear to be much 

 exhausted, but he was so stiffened by the shot on the 

 shoulder that he could not turn quickly, and taking ad- 

 vantage of this we approached him ; as we came near he 

 worked himself slowly round to face us, and then made a 

 lunge at us ; we then stopped on one side and commenced 

 discharging our pistols with little or no effect, except to 

 increase his fury with every shot. His appearance was 

 now one to inspire terror had we not felt satisfied of our 

 ability to avoid him. However, even so, I came very near 

 being overtaken by him. Through my own imprudence, 

 I placed myself directly in front of him, and as he ad- 

 vanced I fired at his head, and then ran ahead of him, in- 

 stead of veering to one side, not supposing that he was 

 able to overtake me ; but turning my head over my shoul- 

 der, I saw to my horror, Mr. Bull within three feet of me, 

 prepared to give me a taste of his horns. The next in- 

 stant I turned sharply off, and the Buffalo being unable to 

 turn quickly enough to follow me, Bell took the gun from 



