n a hundred yards away, and stood looking at the
houses in the greatest wonder; the first they had ever seen, it is
safe to say.

But it appeared that the Indian's medicine did not work any better
than white men's medicine sometimes does; for they began very slowly
to go back the way they had come. I could see them stop often, and
circle around and, I suppose, hold long talks; but they could not get
up their courage to venture closer to the place where the awful spirit
with the flaming eyes and the fiery teeth had looked down upon them
and chased them with his terrible limping gait. At last they passed
entirely out of sight.

My next thought was, of course, to try getting a buffalo myself, since
I needed fresh meat as badly as the Indians, or worse. But by this
time they had drawn back some distance and were out of range for any
but a very good marksman, a thing which I was not. I should have to
follow them, which I decided to do quick as a flash. Through the
tunnel I rushed and out to the barn. In another minute I brought out
Dick saddled and bridled. He had not been beyond a small yard for a
month. He began to jump like a whirlwind. How I ever got on with my
gun I don't know, but I think I must have seized the horn of the
saddle and hung to it like a dog to a root, and some of his jumps must
have thrown me up so high that I came down in the saddle. Anyhow, I
found myself riding away straight south as if I were on a streak of
chain-lightning.

This would not do, so I pulled with all my strength and tried to turn
him. I might as well have tried to turn a steamboat by saying "haw!"
and "gee!" to it. But the pulling on the big curb-bit made him mad and
he stopped and began to buck. I hung on with all hands and legs, and
at last he bucked his head around in the right direction, and then I
yelled at him, making the most outlandish noise I could, and he
started across the square and straight for the buffaloes as if he had
been shot out of a gun. You may see the exact course we took, and
where the buffaloes were, by looking at my map. This map I have drawn
with great care and much hard labor, spoiling several before I got one
to suit me. I hope every one who reads this book will look at the map
often, since it shows the lay of the land very well, I think, and just
where everything happened.

When Dick saw the buffaloes I think he knew what was up, because he
began to act more reasonable. They saw me coming and stopped an