Soon After We Came Upon A Wide Shallow Stream, And As We Rode Swiftly
Over The Hard Sand-Beds And
Through the thin sheets of rippling
water, many of the savage horsemen threw themselves to the ground,
knelt on the
Sand, snatched a hasty draught, and leaping back again
to their seats, galloped on again as before.
Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to
see them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that
buffalo were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than
old straggling bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would
stare for a moment at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off.
At length we could discern several of these scouts making their
signals to us at once; no longer waving their robes boldly from the
top of the hill, but standing lower down, so that they could not be
seen from the plains beyond. Game worth pursuing had evidently been
discovered. The excited Indians now urged forward their tired horses
even more rapidly than before. Pauline, who was still sick and
jaded, began to groan heavily; and her yellow sides were darkened
with sweat. As we were crowding together over a lower intervening
hill, I heard Reynal and Raymond shouting to me from the left; and
looking in that direction, I saw them riding away behind a party of
about twenty mean-looking Indians. These were the relatives of
Reynal's squaw Margot, who, not wishing to take part in the general
hunt, were riding toward a distant hollow, where they could discern a
small band of buffalo which they meant to appropriate to themselves.
I answered to the call by ordering Raymond to turn back and follow
me. He reluctantly obeyed, though Reynal, who had relied on his
assistance in skinning, cutting up, and carrying to camp the buffalo
that he and his party should kill, loudly protested and declared that
we should see no sport if we went with the rest of the Indians.
Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body of hunters, while Reynal
in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill after his ragamuffin
relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in number, rode in a
dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped forward, and a
cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them. I could not
overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where
the scouts were standing. Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the
tired animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse
that he had brought with him. There was not a saddle or a bridle in
the whole party. A piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse's
back served in the place of the one, and a cord of twisted hair
lashed firmly round his lower jaw answered for the other. Eagle
feathers were dangling from every mane and tail, as insignia of
courage and speed. As for the rider, he wore no other clothing than
a light cincture at his waist, and a pair of moccasins. He had a
heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn, and a lash of knotted
bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental band. His bow was
in his hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin hung at his
shoulder. Thus equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped away
toward the left, in order to make a circuit under cover of the hills,
that the buffalo might be assailed on both sides at once. The rest
impatiently waited until time enough had elapsed for their companions
to reach the required position. Then riding upward in a body, we
gained the ridge of the hill, and for the first time came in sight of
the buffalo on the plain beyond.
They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were
crowded together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking
across the sand-beds of the valley. This was a large circular basin,
sun-scorched and broken, scantily covered with herbage and
encompassed with high barren hills, from an opening in which we could
see our allies galloping out upon the plain. The wind blew from that
direction. The buffalo were aware of their approach, and had begun
to move, though very slowly and in a compact mass. I have no further
recollection of seeing the game until we were in the midst of them,
for as we descended the hill other objects engrossed my attention.
Numerous old bulls were scattered over the plain, and ungallantly
deserting their charge at our approach, began to wade and plunge
through the treacherous quick-sands or the stream, and gallop away
toward the hills. One old veteran was struggling behind all the rest
with one of his forelegs, which had been broken by some accident,
dangling about uselessly at his side. His appearance, as he went
shambling along on three legs, was so ludicrous that I could not help
pausing for a moment to look at him. As I came near, he would try to
rush upon me, nearly throwing himself down at every awkward attempt.
Looking up, I saw the whole body of Indians full a hundred yards in
advance. I lashed Pauline in pursuit and reached them just in time,
for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as if by a common impulse,
violently struck his horse, each horse sprang forward convulsively,
and scattering in the charge in order to assail the entire herd at
once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo. We were among them in
an instant. 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.
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