ocean, when Blackwolf, who headed
the force, reined in his dark iron-gray steed with a sudden jerk which
sent him nearly upon his haunches. In an instant all was commotion.
Arrows were drawn from their quivers, bow-strings tried and thrummed,
lances poised, and every eye directed to the spot on which the chief
fixed his earnest and flashing gaze.

Not two miles distant, and grazing in fancied security on a piece of
table land as level as a bowling-green, a large herd of buffalo was
descried, looking at the distance like so many black specks on the
waste. Some I could perceive were lying down, and the scene altogether
may be compared, without violence to the imagination, to what the
tourist may witness by the aid of railways, within a few hours of the
metropolis, in a canter across Dartmoor or Exmoor, and where no dread
exists of Pawnees and Camanches.

It was decided that we should head the herd, and endeavor to drive them
back toward the encampment, in order to save as little time and trouble
as possible in getting the meat and skins to that quarter. In
prosecuting this scheme we had to make a wide circle from the direct
course, and, indeed, it would have been impossible to approach them in
any other way, as we were down the wind, and their powers of scent, like
those given to the denizens of the wild in general, are of the most
acute order.

"You know, major," observed Hawkeye, as he turned our horses
considerably to the left, for for the purpose of covering our
circumventing manoeuvre under the screen of two lines of bluffs
running parallel with each other, "You know, major," repeated he, with a
sly twinkle of satire in his snake-like eyes, "for all de Britishers dat
come here say _you know_ to every thing, dat buff_alo_ smell Indian mile
off. No see far; but smell--Hah! no saying how far buff_alo_ smell."

Taking every precaution to prevent an exercise of these powers upon the
force now approaching their precincts, our head and front of the party,
Blackwolf led us, with consummate generalship, close to the rear of the
unsuspecting animals, and we were upon them without a single head being
disturbed. At first, as we gave ourselves to view from behind the
bluffs, a few of the nearest jerked up their heads, and after a stare,
remarkable for its brevity, erected their tufted tails over their backs
and moved off not rapidly, but evidently preparing for a bolt. This
example was soon followed by several others; but as