after make-believe
enemies and worrying one another till there were several curs less for
the hunt. Inside the cart circle, men were shouting last orders to
women, squaws scolding half-naked urchins, that scampered in the way,
and the whole encampment setting up a din that might have scared any
buffalo herd into endless flight. Grant gave the word. Pierre hoisted
the flag, and the camp turmoil was left behind. The _Bois-Brules_ kept
well within the lines and observed good order; but the Indian rabble
lashed their half-broken horses into a fury of excitement, that
threatened confusion to all discipline. The camp was strongly guarded.
Father Holland remained with the campers, but in spite of his holy
calling, I am sure he longed to be among the hunters.

Scouts ahead, we followed the course of a half-dried slough where
buffalo tracks were visible. Some two miles from camp, the out-runners
returned with word that the herds were browsing a short distance ahead,
and that the marsh-bed widened to a banked ravine. The buffalo could not
have been found in a better place; for there was a fine slope from the
upper land to our game. We at once ascended the embankment and coursed
cautiously along the cliff's summit. Suddenly we rounded an abrupt
headland and gained full view of the buffalo. The flag was lowered,
stopping the march, and up rose our captain in his stirrups to survey
the herd. A light mist screened us and a deep growth of the leathery
grass, common to marsh lands, half hid a multitude of broad, humped,
furry backs, moving aimlessly in the valley. Coal-black noses poked
through the green stalks sniffing the air suspiciously and the curved
horns tossed broken stems off in savage contempt.

From the headland beneath us to the rolling prairie at the mouth of the
valley, the earth swayed with giant forms. The great creatures were
restless as caged tigers and already on the rove for the day's march. I
suppose the vast flocks of wild geese, that used to darken the sky and
fill the air with their shrill "hunk, hunk," when I first went to the
north, numbered as many living beings in one mass as that herd; but men
no more attempted to count the creatures in flock or herd, than to
estimate the pebbles of a shore.

Protruding eyes glared savagely sideways. Great, thick necks hulked
forward in impatient jerks; and those dagger-pointed horns, sharper than
a pruning hook, promised no boy's sport for our company. The buffalo
sees