The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-08-27
IS wiped Out "A Story Of the Plains.
detroit Free Press.

IS wiped Out "A Story Of the Plains.
detroit Free Press.
What is that
Look closer and YOU will see that it is q
gaunt, grim wolf, creeping out OF the little
grove OF cotton woods towards buffalo
calf gambollng around its mother.
Raise your eve q little more and You will
see hat the prairie beyond is alive with
buffalo. Count them. You might as well
try to count the leaves on giant maple !!
They are moving foot by foot as they crop
the Juicy grass, aud living waves rise and
fall as the herd slowly sweep on. Afar out
TO right and left-mere specks on the plain
are the flankers brave old buffaoes, which
catch bite Of grass and then sniff the air
and sean the horizon for intimation OF dam
ger. They are the sentiues 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 to-
waid the distant river it is all unconscious
that danger is near. Look you well and
watch The WOLF for you are going TO see
such sight as not one man in ten thousand
has ever beheld.
Green, crawl. skulk-now behind knoll,
now drawing himself over the grass, now
locality Of its victim. IL is a lone, sham.
bling, skulking wolf, lame and spiteiul, and
treacberOus. Wounded or aiiing, he has
been left alone to get on as best he mag and
his green eyes light up with tiercer blaze as
he draws nearer and nearer to his uncon-
scious prey.
There No, be is yet too far away.
Creep, creep, creep. 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 it shot from a
gun, He is rolling the. calf over and over
on the grass ia three seconds after he
springs.
Now watch!
A cry OF pain from the calf-a furious
below from the mother as she wheels and
charges the VOLTA startled movement rom
dozen OF the nearest animals, and rush
hegins. The one wolf is magnifed 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 motion TO get away from an unknown
terro-. The waves rise higher and
higher rs the confusion spreads. One
instant it seems as il 10000 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
eve can see-and the entire herd is going
off a, a mad gallop, heads down, eyes roll
ing, and no thought but that OF escape. liz
Lake Erie were to dash itself against a
wall the shock would be no greater than
the awful crash with which this mass OF rat
| Ting hoofs, sharp horns, and hairy bodies
would meet it. The clatter OF hoOis and
rattle OF horns would drown the noise OF a
brigade OF cavalry galoping over a stone
| paved road.
! Ride out on their trail. Here, where the
stampede began, the ground Is torn and
furrowed as II thousand cannon had been
firing solid shot at targets. Here and there
are calves which have been gored or crush
ed-here and there older animals with bro
ken legs and disabling wounds. Here,
| where the herd was fairly of, you might as
well hunt for a gold dollar as blade OF
grass. You look for three miles as YOU look
across ii. II is 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 dreadfnl-cyclOne known
| TO man could not have left more horrible
scars behind.
Miles away, on the banks of the winding,
| growing river, are three white-topped emf
grant. wagons. A campfire blszes up to
| boil the kettles-men, women, and children
stand about, peering over the setting sun at
| The distant mountains, anG glad that their
Journey is almost done. Butterflies come
and go5on lazy wing, the cricket chirps
cbeerily on the grass, and the eagles sailing
| in the blue evening air have no warning to
give.
| Hark! Is that thunder?
| Men and women turn In their tracks
| as they look in vain for cloud in the sky.
That rumble comes again as they look into
each others faces. 1t grows louder as wo-
men turn pale and men reach for their trusty
rifles. The ground trembles, and afar OF
comes din which strikes terror TO the
heart. Indians " they whisper. No! A
thousand times better for them il savage
Pawnee dared ride down where these long
barreled rifles sould speak defence Of the
peaceful camp.
| "a stampede OF buffaloes!" gasps one
OF the men as he catches sight OF the adj
yance-guard under the awful cloud OF dust.
Rifles are ready for shot, and the children
climb sp on the heavy wagon.wheels TO see
the strange procession gallop by.
| Here they come! Crack crack crack
from three rifles, and shout as each bullet
| tells. Next instant shaggy bead, followed
by q dust-browned body, rushed through
the camp. Then another and another. The
| men shout and wave their arms; the women
and children turn paier yet.
/ The roar and din shut out every other
sound, aud the wagons Jar and trembie
with the concussion. Now another shaggy
head another-half a dozen--a score--a
hundreds great living wave which sweeps
along with The power OF tornado, follow
ed By others more fierce and strong, and
the camp Is blotted Of the face OF the earth
more completely than by any power OF hea-
ven. Nothing to be seen--n0 shout to be
heard. Wave followed wave across the
spot-over the bark-into the stream and
4 across. aud when The iasf OF the herd had