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BUFFALO CALF. 
to spend an extra hour, secure the skin, and 
leave the female elk to the wolves, for all were 
growing nervous about recrossing the range. 
It was not without many remonstrances that 
Mrs. Maxwell was persuaded to leave her gun ; 
but she finally yielded, and set out unarmed. 
They were busy removing the skin from the cow, 
when, looking up, she saw, only a little distance 
from her, a beautiful little buffalo calf. It evidently 
belonged to the cow that had been killed, and 
had stayed behind the herd to wait for her. 
Probably there was never a time when strong 
language w T ould better have fitted Mrs. Maxwell’s 
thoughts, than while that little creature stood 
there within easy shot, and not a rifle or even a 
shot-gun within half a dozen miles ! That variety 
of buffalo was so rare, the group would be so pretty, 
with both mother and young, and above all it was 
too bad to leave the little creature to perish. 
To leave the female elk, Mrs. Maxwell insisted, 
was not to be thought of by her; and, although 
it would take another day, so intense was her 
desire to save it, that the party remained. They 
were out of flour, and although supplied with 
the choicest meats and plenty of rice, the satisfied 
sensation of really having dined could not be 
quite realized by any combination of those two 
articles. Still there was no danger of suffering 
while they held out ; and the next morning early 
