St. Landry democrat., 1880-08-07
d" Wiped Out"--.A Graphic Picture Of
Buffalo Stampede.
What is that


Look closer and you will see that it
is a gaunt, grim wolf, creeping out of
the little grove of cottonWoods towards
buffalo calf gamboling around its
mother
Raise your eyes little more and you
will see that the prairie beyond is alive
with buffalo. Count them You might
as well try to count the leaves on a
giant maple! They are moving foot by
foot as they crop the juicy grass, and
| living waves rise and fall as the herd
slowly sweep on. Afar out to right and
| left-mere specks on the plain, are the
fankers-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 us it now slowly moves
towards the distant riverit is all uncon-
scious that danger is near. Look you
well and watch the wolf, for you are
going to see such sight as not one man
ia ten thousand has ever beheld.
l-skulk-now behind a
knoll-now drawing himself over the
grass-noW raising its head above a
thistle to mark the locality of it's victim.
1t is a lone, stumbling, sktllking wolf,
lame and spiteful and treacherous
Wounded Or ailing he has been left
alone to get on as best he may and his
green eyes light up with fercer blaze
as he draws nearer and nearer to his
unconscious prey.
There! No, he is yet too far away.
Creep-creep-creep! Now he is TWEEN
ty feet away-now fifteen, now ten.
He hugs the earth, gathers his feet I'M
der him, and he bounds through the air
as if shot from 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 Gala furious
below from the mother as she wheels
and charges the wolf, startled move
mont from dozen of the nearest ami
mails, and a rush begins. The wolf is
magnified into hundred the hundred
into a thousand. Short, sharp bellows
snorts of alarm-a rush, and in fifty
seconds after the wolf has wet his fangs
with blood that living mass is in mo-
ton to get away from an unknown ter
ror. The waves rise higher and higher
as the confusion spreads One instant
it seems as if ten thousand solid acres
of prairie were moving bodily away
again waves rise and fall as the towards
behind rush upon those in front who
wait to sniff the air and learn the dam
ger. In one minute the alarm runs
down the herd to the leaders-further
than the eye can see, and the entire
herd is going off at a mad gallop, heads
down, eyes rolling, and no thought but
that of escape. If Lake Erie were to
dash itself against a wall the shock
would be no greater than the awful
crash with which this mass of rafting
hoofs, sharp horns and hairy bodies
would meet it. The clatter of hoofs
and rattle of horns would drown the
noise of a brigade of cavalry galloping
over stone-paved road.
Ride out on their trail. Here where
the stampede began the ground is torn
and furrowed as if thousand cannon
had been firing solid shot at targets.
Here and there are calves which have
been gored or crushed-here and there
Older animals with broken legs and dis
abling wounds. Here, where the herd
was fairly off, you might as well hunt
for gold dollar as a blade of grass.
You look for three miles as you look
across it. 1t is a trail of dirt and dust
and ruts and burrows, where half an
hour ago was a carpet of green grass
and smiling flowers. The most dread
full cyclone known to man could not
have left more horrible scars behind.
Miles away, on the bank of a winding,
growing river, are three white-topped
emigrant wagons. A campfire blazes
up to boil the kettles-me women and
children stand about, peering over the
setting sun at the distant mountains and