suing into the valley. For a long
time all was silent; I sat holding his horse, and wondering what he was
about, when suddenly, in rapid succession, came the sharp reports of the
two rifles, and the whole line of buffalo, quickening their pace into a
clumsy trot, gradually disappeared over the ridge of the hill. Henry
rose to his feet, and stood looking after them.

"You have missed them," said I.

"Yes," said Henry; "let us go." He descended into the ravine, loaded the
rifles, and mounted his horse. We rode up the hill after the buffalo.
The herd was out of sight when we reached the top, but lying on the
grass not far off was one quite lifeless, and another violently
struggling in the death agony.

"You see I miss him!" remarked Henry. He had fired from a distance of
more than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed through
the lungs--the true mark in shooting buffalo.

The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on. Tying our horses to
the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of dissection,
slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I vainly
endeavored to imitate him. Old Hendrick recoiled with horror and
indignation when I endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of rawhide,
always carried for this purpose, dangling at the back of the saddle.
After some difficulty we overcame his scruples; and heavily burdened
with the more eligible portions of the buffalo, we set out on our
return. Scarcely had we emerged from the labyrinth of gorges and
ravines, and issued upon the open prairie, when the pricking sleet came
driving, gust upon gust, directly in our faces. It was strangely dark,
though wanting still an hour of sunset. The freezing storm soon
penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of our heavy-gaited horses
kept us warm enough, as we forced them unwillingly in the teeth of the
sleet and rain, by the powerful suasion of our Indian whips.

The prairie in this place was hard and level. A flourishing colony of
prairie dogs had burrowed into it in every direction, and the little
mounds of fresh earth around their holes were about as numerous as the
hills in a cornfield; but not a yelp was to be heard; not a nose of a
single citizen was visible; all had retired to the depths of their
burrows, and we envied them their dry and comfortable habitations.

An hour's hard riding showed us our tent dimly looming through the
storm, one side puffed out by the force of the wind, a