He had assailed a
fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and mortally wounded her. But
neither of us were prepared for the chase that afternoon, and Shaw,
like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch; so he abandoned the
disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed, dispatched her with
his rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
We encamped close to the river. The night was dark, and as we lay
down we could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse
bellowing of the buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant
coast.
CHAPTER XXV
THE BUFFALO CAMP
No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half
so lazy as Ellis. Between these two there was a great antipathy.
Ellis never stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim
was always on his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the
sound of his voice awakened the party.
"Get up, you booby! up with you now, you're fit for nothing but
eating and sleeping. Stop your grumbling and come out of that
buffalo robe or I'll pull it off for you."
Jim's words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave
them great additional effect. Ellis drawled out something in a nasal
tone from among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged
himself, rose into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned
hideously, and finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring
round him to all the four quarters of the horizon. Delorier's fire
was soon blazing, and the horses and mules, loosened from their
pickets, were feeding in the neighboring meadow. When we sat down to
breakfast the prairie was still in the dusky light of morning; and as
the sun rose we were mounted and on our way again.
"A white buffalo!" exclaimed Munroe.
"I'll have that fellow," said Shaw, "if I run my horse to death after
him."
He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the
prairie.
"Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!" called out Henry Chatillon, "you'll run down
your horse for nothing; it's only a white ox."
But Shaw was already out of hearing. The ox, who had no doubt
strayed away from some of the government wagon trains, was standing
beneath some low hills which bounded the plain in the distance. Not
far from him a band of veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and
startled at Shaw's approach, they all broke into a run, and went
scrambling up the hillsides to gain the high prairie above. One of
them in his haste and terror involved himself in a fatal catastrophe.
Along the foot of the hills was a narrow strip of deep marshy soil,
into which the bull plunged and hopelessly entangled himself. We all
rode up to the spot. The huge carcass was half sunk in the mud,
which flowed to his very chin, and his shaggy mane was outspread upon
the surface. As we came near the bull began to struggle with
convulsive strength; he writhed to and fro, and in the energy of his
fright and desperation would lift himself for a moment half out of
the slough, while the reluctant mire returned a sucking sound as he
strained to drag his limbs from its tenacious depths. We stimulated
his exertions by getting behind him and twisting his tail; nothing
would do. There was clearly no hope for him. After every effort his
heaving sides were more deeply imbedded and the mire almost
overflowed his nostrils; he lay still at length, and looking round at
us with a furious eye, seemed to resign himself to his fate. Ellis
slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling his boasted yager, shot
the old bull through the heart; then he lazily climbed back again to
his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having actually killed a
buffalo. That day the invincible yager drew blood for the first and
last time during the whole journey.
The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on
the farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply
drawn against the sky. Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in
advance of the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls
galloping at full speed upon a vast green swell of the prairie at
some distance in front. Shaw came scouring along behind them,
arrayed in his red shirt, which looked very well in the distance; he
gained fast on the fugitives, and as the foremost bull was
disappearing behind the summit of the swell, we saw him in the act of
assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the muzzle of his gun,
and floated away before the wind like a little white cloud; the bull
turned upon him, and just then the rising ground concealed them both
from view.
We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side
of the Arkansas. At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the
side of a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he
threw his saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two
bulls were dangling behind it. No sooner were the horses turned
loose to feed than Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his
rifle and walked quietly away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by
the side of the cart to discuss the dinner which Delorier placed
before us; we had scarcely finished when we saw Munroe walking toward
us along the river bank. Henry, he said, had killed four fat cows,
and had sent him back for horses to bring in the meat. Shaw took a
horse for himself and another for Henry, and he and Munroe left the
camp together.
