o?"

"That's just what's the matter. We'll see 'em all inside of half an
hour, unless we turn tail and run."

"Let's do it, then, for there can't be much time to spare."

The hunters showed no disposition to flee from the danger approaching,
and Ned began to grow alarmed.

"Why do you stay here?" he asked. "If your horses are so fleet that no
one can catch them, what is the use of letting them do it?"

"Don't get scart, my boy," returned Tom Hardynge. "We'll take care of
you."

He much preferred that they should all take care of themselves by giving
their animals the rein and permitting the Apaches to make no nearer
approach. But the scouts were obstinate and remained as motionless as
statues. The tramping of myriad feet came nearer and nearer, until the
sound partook of one general, thunderous undertone of the most trying
character to the lad. It seemed to him so much like suicide--this
waiting for a terrible danger as it steadily approached--that he was
strongly tempted to start his horse away on his own account.

"Look!" called out Morris, pointing toward the southwest.

Following the direction indicated, the lad saw what appeared to be a
heavy cloud lying low down in the horizon, but creeping slowly upward,
like the sulphurous vapor that sometimes hovers over a battle field.

"What is it?" he asked, terrified, knowing that it was not the presage
of a storm such as sometimes sweeps over the prairies.

There was something strange and unnatural in its appearance,
accompanied, as it was, by the tremulous, thunderous rumbling. By and
by, as this uproar came nearer and nearer, a still more curious sight
presented itself. The prairie seemed agitated, trembling and quivering
with a peculiar, wave-like motion, such as the ocean shows when it is
subsiding after a severe storm. There was a sea, a living sea, spreading
tumultuously over the plain. Dark, heaving masses were constantly
verging nearer, as they moved rapidly toward the northeast. Suddenly
light broke in upon the mind of Ned Chadmund.

"I know what it is!" he exclaimed. "They are buffaloes."

"Correct," assented Tom, with a laugh. "They are passing pretty close,
but we're out of their way."

The buffaloes surged so near to where the three horsemen stood that more
than once Ned started with a fear that they would be overwhelmed; but
the hunters showed such calmness and self-possession that he was
reassured. All at once a furious trampling was heard, an