d my cartridge-box is
empty, but I never heard a report. I didn't hear anything but the
thunder of those hoofs, and I shall hear it to my dying day."

"I wonder what started them?" said one of the troopers, after he and his
companions had asked a few questions concerning the behavior of the
various members of the squad. "Indians?"

"Probably they did," answered a sergeant, who just then came up to the
fire to light his pipe, being unable to go to sleep until he had taken a
smoke to quiet his nerves.

"Probably the Indians had nothing to do with it," said George. "Don't
you know that a herd of buffaloes will feed within a mile or two of an
Indian camp for days at a time, while half a dozen white men would scare
them out of the country in less than an hour? Well, it's a fact."

"What is the reason for it?" asked Bob.

"The reason is to be found in the different modes of hunting them. The
Indian, who depends largely upon them for food and clothing, kills no
more of them during a run than the squaws can take care of. He hunts
them almost altogether with the bow and arrow, which are not only very
effective weapons at short range, but they make no noise to scare away
the game. He hunts according to long-established rules, none but the
best men in the tribe being permitted to take part in a run, and in this
way the game is secured before the buffaloes get frightened enough to
break into a stampede. The white man, who hunts principally for profit,
keeps up the killing as long as he can hold the herd within range of his
gun. He follows them persistently during the daytime, and at night lies
in wait to shoot them as they come to the streams to quench their
thirst. A buffalo is a very stupid animal, but, after all, it doesn't
take him long to get some things through his head."

"Fresh, purty _fresh_!" murmured a voice.

George looked over his shoulders and saw the scout lying close by on his
blanket. He had come up to the fire and arranged his bed without
attracting the attention of any one.

"Do you think there is nobody in this party who knows anything except
yourself?" demanded George.

"Well, no; judgin' by the way you sling your chin, you know it all,"
replied the scout.

"What do you suppose first put this herd in motion?" asked one of the
troopers, who had not yet gained all the information he wanted.

"That's a question that nobody can answer unless he was on the ground
and saw them start," answered George.--"