es, in
order to make his voice heard above the roar of the threatening hoofs,
which sounded like the noise made by an approaching hurricane. "We are
here to conquer or die. If we don't split that herd they will trample us
out of sight in the ground. We can do it if we are only cool enough to
hold our position. Don't fire until I give the word, and then put in the
shots as rapidly as you know how."

Bob's hair fairly stood on end, and not even the calm bearing of George
Ackerman, who was constantly by his side and who knew their danger
better than he did, or the lieutenant's assurance that the herd could be
split if they did their full duty, could relieve Bob's mind of the
positive conviction that he and his comrades were doomed to certain and
speedy death. But his courage never faltered, and to show that he did
not intend to allow himself to be outdone in steadiness even by a
shoulder-strap, he walked up and kneeling beside his officer (the men in
the front rank were all kneeling, so that those in the rear rank could
shoot over their heads) waited for the order to fire.

Nearer came the terror-stricken buffaloes, louder grew the thunder of
their hoofs, and, as if to add to the horror of the situation and to
test the courage of the lieutenant and his devoted little band to the
very utmost, the horses behind them began to grow unmanageable from
fright and to struggle desperately to escape from their fastenings.

At length, after a few moments of dreadful suspense, the time for action
arrived. A rapidly-moving mass, which was plainly visible, owing to the
fact that it was blacker than the darkness of the night, burst into view
and bore down upon the camp and its little band of defenders. So loud
was the noise made by their hoofs at this moment that the troopers did
not hear the order to fire, which the lieutenant shouted out with all
the power of his lungs; but they saw the flash of his revolver, and lost
no time in opening a hot fire upon that portion of the herd which was
directly in front of them. To Bob it seemed that the rapid discharges of
their breech-loaders had no effect whatever. The black mass before him
was as black and as dense, apparently, as it was when he first saw it,
but, strange to say, instead of plunging upon him and his companions and
trampling them out of all semblance to humanity, it seemed to remain
stationary, although the deafening roar of those countless hoofs told
him that the frantic herd ha