The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1880-08-06
+" WIPED OUT"

What is that
Look closer, and you viii see that it
is gaunt, grim wolf, creeping out Of
the little grove Of cottonwoods toward a
buffalo calf gamboling around its mother.
Raise your eyes little more, and you
will see that the prairie around is alive
with buffalo. Count them You might
as well try to count the leaves on q giant
maple They are moving foot by foot
as they crop the juicy grass, and living
waves rise and fall as the herd slowly
sweeps on. Afar out to the right and
left-mere specks on the plain--are the
lankers- brave old buffaloes, which
catch bite Of grass and then sniff the
Air and scan the horizon for intimation
Of danger. They are the sentinels Of
the herd, and right well can they be
trusted.
The wolf creeps nearer
All the afternoon the great herd has
fed in peace, and, as it now slowly moves
toward the distant river, it is all uncon-
scious that danger is near. Look you
well and watch the wolf, for you are 60
ing to see sucha sight as not one man in
10000 has ever beheld.
Creep -crawl-skulk-- nehind a
knoll-now drawing himself over the
grass-now raising its head above a
thistle to mark the locality Of its victim.
1t low, shambling, skulking wolf,
lame and spiteful and treacherous.
Wounded or ailing, he has been left to
get on as best he may, and his green
eyes light up with fiercer blaze as he
draws nearer to his unconscious prey.
There No, he is yet too far away.
Creep creep-cree Now he is
twenty feet away-now fifteen, now ten.
He hugs the earth, gathers his feet
under him, and he bounds through the
air as If shot from a gun. He is rolling
the calf over and over on the grass in
three seconds after he springs.
Now watch!
A cry Of pain from the calf-a furiou:
below from the mother as she wheels
and charges the VOLTA startled move
ment from dozen of the nearest ami
mails, and rush begins. The one vol
is magnifed into hundred, the hun
dred into thousand. Short, sharp bel
lows-notes of alarm-a rush, and ii
fifty seconds after the wolf has wet hi
tangs with blood that living mass is il
motion to get away from an unknown
~iror. Fy E@ENKl ~
The waves rise higher and higher a
the confusion spreads. One instant
seems as if 10000 solid acres of prairi
we're moving bodily away--again wave
rise and fall as the towards behind rusl
upon those in front who wait to sniff tn
air and learn the danger. In one min
ute the alarm runs down the herd to tn
leaders, further than the eye can see
and the entire herd is going off at ma
galop, heads down, eyes rolling, and n
thought but that Of escape. If LAX
Erie were to dash itself against a wa
the shock would be no greater than th
awful crash with which this mass Of raj
ting hoofs, sharp horns and hair
bodies would meet it. The chatter (
hoofs and rattle Of horns would drow
the noise of brigade Of cavalry ga
loping over stone-paved road.
Ride out on their trail. Here whei
the stampede began the ground is tor
and furrowed as if thousand canno
had been firing solid shot at target
Here and there are calves which hal
been gored or crushed here and the
older animals with broken legs and dis
hing wounds. Here, where the hel
was fairly of, you might as well hui
ior q gold dollar as blade Of gras
lou look for three miles as you lot
" acrossit. 1t is a trail Of dirt and dus
and ruts and burrows, where half /
Z nour ago was a. carpet Of green gra
and smiling flowers. The most drea
iui cyclone known to man could n
have left more horrible scars behind.
Miles away, on the bank OF windin
growing river are three white-topp
emigrant wagons. A campfire blaz
up to boil the kettle--rnen women a
children stand about, pesring over I
setting sun ut the distant mountains a