We Kept On Till The Afternoon,
When, Far Behind, Three Horsemen Appeared On The Horizon.
Coming on
at a hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and claimed all the horses
as belonging to themselves and others of their company.
They were of
course given up, very much to the mortification of Ellis and Jim
Gurney.
Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give
them half a day's rest. We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the
river. After dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the
men lounged about the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the
cart. Looking up, I saw a bull grazing alone on the prairie more
than a mile distant. I was tired of reading, and taking my rifle I
walked toward him. As I came near, I crawled upon the ground until I
approached to within a hundred yards; here I sat down upon the grass
and waited till he should turn himself into a proper position to
receive his death-wound. He was a grim old veteran. His loves and
his battles were over for that season, and now, gaunt and war-worn,
he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by himself and recruit his
exhausted strength. He was miserably emaciated; his mane was all in
tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an elephant's, and covered
with dried patches of the mud in which he had been wallowing.
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