aughter as I sat securely on my perch.

I looked to the south-west. As far as the eye could see, the prairie
was black, and moving. The living wave came rolling onward and toward
me; but I could now observe it in safety. The myriads of glancing eyes,
sparkling like phosphoric gleams, no longer flashed terror.

The drove was still half a mile distant. I thought I saw quick gleams,
and heard the report of firearms away over its left border; but I could
not be certain. I had begun to think of the fate of my comrades, and
this gave me hopes that they were safe.

The buffaloes approached the butte on which I was seated; and,
perceiving the obstacle, suddenly forked into two great belts, and swept
right and left around it. What struck me at this moment as curious was,
that my bull, my particular bull, instead of waiting till his comrades
had come up, and falling in among the foremost, suddenly tossed up his
head, and galloped off as if a pack of wolves had been after him. He
ran towards the outside of the band. When he had reached a point that
placed him fairly beyond the flank, I could see him closing in, and
moving on with the rest.

This strange tactic of my late companion puzzled me at the time, but I
afterwards learned that it was sound strategy on his part. Had he
remained where I had parted with him, the foremost bulls coming up would
have mistaken him for an individual of some other tribe, and would
certainly have gored him to death.

I sat upon the rock for nearly two hours, silently watching the sable
stream as it poured past. I was on an island in the midst of a black
and glittering sea. At one time I fancied I was moving, that the butte
was sailing onward, and the buffaloes were standing still. My head swam
with dizziness, and I leaped to my feet to drive away the strange
illusion.

The torrent rolled onward, and at length the hindmost went straggling
past. I descended from the knoll, and commenced groping my way over the
black, trodden earth. What was lately a green sward now presented the
aspect of ground freshly ploughed, and trampled by droves of oxen.

A number of white animals, resembling a flock of sheep, passed near me.
They were wolves hanging upon the skirts of the herd.

I pushed on, keeping to the southward. At length I heard voices; and,
in the clear moonlight, could see several horsemen galloping in circles
over the plain. I shouted "Hollo!" A voice answered mine, and one of