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Show 404 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. ing them. They may also be approached by cr I' . . . aw mg up ra. VInes, or behmd hills, or even over the open pra1• · Th' . rJ e · IS lS often surprisingly easy ; but at other times I.t r · h eq mres t 8 ut. most skill of the most experienced hunter I:T • Ch . · ~em Y atl1lo n was a man of extraordinary strength and hardihood; but I have seen him return to camp quite exhausted with h' ffi lR e orts, his limbs scratched and wounded, and his buckskin dress stuck full of the thorns of the prickly-pear, among which he had been crawling. Sometimes he would lay fiat upon h'I s "1 ace, and drag himself along in this position for many rods together. On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out. for an a.fternoon hunt. Shaw and I remained in · camp, until, ~bservmg some bulls approaching the water upon the other s1de of the river, we crossed over to attack them. They were so near, however, that before we could get under cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over the sands alarmed them. Turning round before coming within gunshot, they began to move off to the right in a direction parallel to the river- I climbed up the bank and ran after them. They were walking swift I y, and before I could come within gun-shot distance they slowly wheeled about and faced toward me. Before they had turned fiu enough to see me I had fallen flat on my face. For a moment they stood and stared at the strano-e obiect up th . . o J on e grass ; then turnmg away, agam they walked on as be£'ore . a d I . . . a· I • H , n , nsmg rmme 1ate y, ran once more m pursuit. Again t~ey wheeled about, and again I fell prostrate. Repeating this three or four times I came at length within a hundred yards of the fugitives, :nd as I saw them turn·m g agai·n I sat down and levelled my rifle. The one in the centre was the largest I had ever seen. I shot him behind THE BUFFALO CAMP. 405 the shoulder. His two companions ran off. He attempted to follow, but soon came to a stand, and at length lay down as quietly as an ox chewing the cud. Cautiously approaching him, I saw by his dull and jelly-like eye that he was dead. When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a great multitude of bufYalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking up, I saw within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the right and left as far as I could see. I walked toward them. My approach did not alarm them in the least. The column itself consisted almost entirely of cows and calves, but a great many old bulls were ranging a bout the prairie on its flank, and as I drew near they faced toward me with such a shaggy and ferocious look that I thought it best to proceed no farther. Indeed I was already within close rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on the ground to watch their movements. Sometimes the whole would stand still, their heads all facing one way ; then they would trot forward, as if by a common impulse, their hoofs and horns clattering together as they moved. I soon began to hear at a distance on the left the sharp reports of a rifle, again and again repeated ; and not long after, dull and heavy sounds succeeded, which I recognized as the familiar voice of Shaw's double-barreled gun. When Henry's rifle ·was at work there was always meat to be brought in. I went back across the river for a horse, and returning, reached the spot .where the hunters were standing. The buffalo were visible on the distant prairie. The living had retreated from the ground but ten or twelve carcasses were ._ ' scattered in various directions. Henry, knife in hand, was stooping over a dead cow, cutting away the best and fattest of the meat. |