THE REFERENDUM 



57* 



What could we do, do you suppose, if a fren- 

 zied buffalo bull should charge us?" 



It was upon the tip of my tongue to ask 

 him whose fault it would be, but even I 

 sometimes have glimpses of discretion, so I 

 only bit. my lips and looked suspiciously over 

 my shoulder at the path behind me — the boat 

 —and safety. And again the thought came to 

 me how worse than foolish it was — how 

 criminal for human beings, made in the image 

 of the Creator to intrude unannounced and 

 uninvited into the presence of a gentleman 

 buffalo of uncertain age and temper. 



We came out from the shelter of the un- 

 dergrowth by and by and reached the first 

 of a series of little, bare knolls. I had lagged 

 behind all the way, but by some unhappy 

 •mischance I now found myself in front even 

 of the guide, and it occurred to me (not for 

 the first time) that it would be strictly in ac- 

 cordance with my usual luck to have to meet 

 the buffalo myself and have to announce his 

 visitors and account for their presence. In 

 which case 



I had reached the top of the knoll by this 

 time and looked beyond. My heart gave one 

 convulsive flutter and then retired tem- 

 porarily from business. In a little cup-shaped 

 depression a little way beyond and below me 

 was the buffalo! He looked the part-— and 

 more. A huge bull — his head turning sus- 

 piciously from side to side — and he was 

 snorting defiance and ill-temper at every 

 breath. 



At first he did not see me nor the others 

 who in response to my signal had followed 

 me so closely. If the lion is the king of the 

 desert, there can be no reasonable doubt that 

 the buffalo is the paramount lord of the rest 

 of the universe. Nor had I the slightest de- 

 sire to dispute his supremacy for a moment. 

 It seemed to me that the uppermost feeling 

 in my heart just then was one of abject apol- 

 ogy. The children clung affrightedly to my 

 skirts as his hoarse challenge was answered 

 by a distant bellow, and the thought occurred 

 to me again what an appropriate place home 

 was for a woman. 



It seems to me that generally speaking a 

 woman is simply a bundle of inconsistencies 

 and contradictions. I was horribly afraid of 

 the buffalo — as well I might be. We were un- 

 armed — there was but one man in the party 

 — we were hampered by the presence of the 

 children, and I at least with middle-aged 

 dignity and increasing stoutness would have 

 cut but a sorry figure in a headlong flight for 

 the boat. I told myself all this over and oyer 

 in a vain attempt to check the temptation 

 that was tingling to my finger-tips. Unfor- 

 tunately the attention of the rest of the party 

 was momentarily diverted, and Mr. Wood, 

 who usually was very quick to have his sus- 

 picions aroused, had momentarily forgotten 



me. He had seated himself on a fragment of 

 rock in the shelter of a stunted evergreen 

 and was telling the children, who now clung 

 to him so closely, what a rare opportunity 

 was theirs ; that of seeing a buffalo at close 

 range and in his native state, and was trying 

 vainly to rectify something that had gone 

 wrong with his camera. 



My cheeks burned guiltily as I turned aside 

 just a little, for I was keenly aware of the 

 fact that in earning the camera for him 

 while he helped the little ones out of the boat 

 and over a particularly rough bit of ground, 

 I had dropped it more than once. I did not 

 care for that so much, for it was accustomed 

 to rough treatment while in my care, but the 

 last time when I tripped over a bit of shale 

 and impeded by my skirts had fallen head- 

 long, I remembered having distinctly heard 

 the crash of broken glass. So I thought it 

 decidely best all at once to become absorbed 

 in the scenery. 



"What can be the matter with this cam- 

 era?" he said fretfully, and with a look of 

 suspicion at me. "Are you sure that you held 

 it all the time just in the way I told you?" 



"I was thinking some beautiful thoughts 

 just then," I said indignantly. "Men have so 

 little consideration. I am quite sure that the 

 sentiments will never occur to me again. And 

 I should think that I ought to know the 

 proper way to carry a camera by this time. 

 It is not my fault, I am sure, if at your age 

 you are hasty enough to expend your money 

 for one that is absolutely worthless. And I 

 do not like to see you lose your temper in 

 such an absurd fashion over such a trifling 

 matter. I should think that you would be 

 ashamed. You ought to have more regard 

 for an infant of tender years " 



"He is four years old," he said hastily, "and 

 I have heard him say far worse things than 

 that. You yourself " 



"That is worse than ever," I said with dig- 

 nity. "If you have no more discretion than 

 to criticise a mother in the presence of her 

 children — and I didn't say — what you said 

 I said," I added severely. 



I was glad to see that his mind for the mo- 

 ment was distracted from the matter in hand. 

 He laid the camera aside, and kneeling be- 

 side a tuft of dried grasses showed Ethel a 

 tiny depression where a ground bird had 

 hidden her half-built nest. Mrs. Wood, un- 

 disturbed by the discussion;, was watching 

 the flight of a far-away bird against the hori- 

 zon, and again I turned to the buffalo. 



He was still suspicious. He had ceased to 

 bellow, but turned restlessly """rom side to side 

 and looked sullenly about him. His hidden 

 comrade again sounded an answer to the 

 unspoken challenge. Arid then the tempta- 

 tion seized me again irresistibly, and my 

 guardian angel who knew the mood forsook 



