fired upon him. We thought such
had been the case, as we had noticed a strange manoeuvre on the part of
the bull. But for that, our guides believed they would have succeeded
to their hearts' content; as they intended first to have shot the other
bull, and then the cows would have remained until all had fallen.

A place was now selected for our night-camp, and the meat from the cows
brought in and dressed. Over a fire of cotton-wood logs we soon cooked
the most splendid supper we had eaten for a long time.

The beef of the wild buffalo-cow is far superior to that of domestic
cattle, but the "tit-bits" of the same animal are luxuries never to be
forgotten. Whether it be that a prairie appetite lends something to the
relish is a question. This I will not venture to deny; but certainly
the "baron of beef" in merry old England has no souvenirs to me so sweet
as a roast rib of "fat cow," cooked over a cotton-wood fire, and eaten
in the open air, under the pure sky of the prairies.

The place where we had pitched our camp was upon the banks of a very
small spring-stream, or creek, that, rising near at hand, meandered
through the prairie to a not distant branch of the Arkansas River.
Where we were, this creek was embanked very slightly; but, at about two
hundred yards' distance, on each side, there was a range of bluffs that
followed the direction of the stream. These bluffs were not very high,
but sufficiently so to prevent any one down in the creek bottom from
having a view of the prairie level. As the bottom itself was covered
with very coarse herbage, and as a better grass--the buffalo--grew on
the prairie above, we there picketed our horses, intending to bring them
closer to the camp when night set in, or before going to sleep. The
camp itself--that is the two tents, with Jake's waggon--were on the very
edge of the stream; but Jake's mules were up on the plain, along with
the rest of the _cavallada_.

It was still two hours before sunset. We had made our dinner, and,
satisfied with the day's sport, were enjoying ourselves with a little
brandy, that still held out in our good-sized keg, and a smoke. We had
reviewed the incidents of the day, and were laying out our plans for the
morrow. We were admonished by the coldness of the evening that winter
was not far off, and we all agreed that another week was as long as we
could safely remain upon the prairies. We had started late in the
season, but our not finding