beyond all question, but did no more than irritate him; for,
without any other warning than a sudden lowering of the head, he
wheeled, and turned directly upon the horse, with the evident purpose of
disemboweling him.

But the latter had seen this sort of business before, and was prepared
for it.

Without attempting to turn to the one side or the other, or to check his
speed in the least, he made a terrific flying leap upward, going clear
over the head of the buffalo, landing upon the other side, and
continuing his flight at his leisure, as it may be said.

This was a clever trick of the mustang, but it proved the undoing of his
rider, who had no other saddle than the Indian blanket strapped to the
horse's back. This was good enough, except in such a sudden emergency as
the present, when Ned was entirely unprepared for it. It was done in a
twinkling, the end of it being that he found himself lying upon the
green sward of the prairie, considerably bruised, and with horse and
buffalo rapidly speeding from view.

"This is a go," said the lad, rising to his feet and looking about him.
"I don't see where the fun of buffalo hunting comes in."

During the minutes of excitement when the mustang was coursing with such
speed over the prairie, the rider had no idea of the direction taken,
nor could he conjecture how far he had gone; but the result was that he
was separated by a much greater distance than he supposed from his
friends. Ned stood and gazed carefully about him. Off to the west were
the dust, and thousands upon thousands of buffaloes. The latter were too
far removed to be distinguished, but that tramping and the heavy cloud
indicated where the mass of life was plunging tumultuously forward
toward some destination unknown even to themselves. Nothing was to be
seen of the hunters. They had sent the lad off on this hunt on purpose
to give him a taste of buffalo hunting, not supposing, of course, that
any accident would result.

"What shall I do?" was the question the boy asked himself, as he stood,
rifle in hand, and looked around him. "If there was some way in which I
could get a good supper, I wouldn't mind this camping out, for Tom and
Dick will be sure to find me in the morning."

Looking toward the north, he fancied that he dimly discerned the dark
outline of something which resembled a grove of trees, and he turned his
footsteps in that direction.

"If they are trees," he reflected, as he trudged along, "i