Amid the trampling and the yells I could see their dark
figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and the
horsemen darting in pursuit.
While we were charging on one side, our
companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on the
other. The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment. The dust
cleared away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a
common center, flying over the plain singly, or in long files and
small compact bodies, while behind each followed the Indians, lashing
their horses to furious speed, forcing them close upon their prey,
and yelling as they launched arrow after arrow into their sides. The
large black carcasses were strewn thickly over the ground. Here and
there wounded buffalo were standing, their bleeding sides feathered
with arrows; and as I rode past them their eyes would glare, they
would bristle like gigantic cats, and feebly attempt to rush up and
gore my horse.
I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution. Neither I
nor my horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had
determined to remain a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses
and buffalo, the uproar and the dust, I found it impossible to sit
still; and as four or five buffalo ran past me in a line, I drove
Pauline in pursuit. We went plunging close at their heels through
the water and the quick-sands, and clambering the bank, chased them
through the wild-sage bushes that covered the rising ground beyond.
But neither her native spirit nor the blows of the knotted bull-hide
could supply the place of poor Pauline's exhausted strength. We
could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives. At last, however,
they came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over; and as this
compelled them to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to get
within ten or twelve yards of the hindmost. At this she faced about,
bristled angrily, and made a show of charging. I shot at her with a
large holster pistol, and hit her somewhere in the neck. Down she
tumbled into the ravine, whither her companions had descended before
her. I saw their dark backs appearing and disappearing as they
galloped along the bottom; then, one by one, they came scrambling out
on the other side and ran off as before, the wounded animal following
with unabated speed.
Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and
as we rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses
lying on the plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the
stream. Far away in the distance, horses and buffalo were still
scouring along, with little clouds of dust rising behind them; and
over the sides of the hills we could see long files of the frightened
animals rapidly ascending. The hunters began to return.
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