The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-09-29
s.WIPED QUIZ
a THRILLING INCIDENTS on THE PRA1RIEs.
aSew York Diapatehl

II IS gaunt, grim wolf, creeping out
of-the little groves of cOttOnwoOds
toward buffalo calf gambling around
its mother.
Raise your eyes a little more and
you win see that 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, 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 flankers-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 neareri
All the afternoon the great herd has
fed in peace, and as it now slowly
moves toward 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 a sight as
not one man IN ten thousand ever be-
held.
Creep-crawl-sku behind
knoll-now drawing himself over
the grass-now raising its head above
a thistle to mark the locality Of its
victim. It is lone, shambling, skulk-
ing 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
to his unconciOus prey.
There! No, he is vet too far away.
-crcep-creepl Now he is
twenty feet away-noW fifteen, now
ten He hugs the earth, gathers his
feet under him, and 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, watchl
A cry of pain from the calf-a
furious below from the mother as she
wheels and charges the wolf-startled
movement from a dozen of the nearest
animals, and rush begins. The one
wolf is magnified into a hundred, the
/ hundred into a thousand. Short,
sharp belioWs=notes of alarm-a
rush, aud in fifty seconds after the
wolf has wet his fangs with blood,
that living mass is in motion to get
! away from an unknown terror.
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 danger. In one minute
/ the alarm runs down the herd to the
1 leaders, further than the eve can see,
a ,.kP -,
mad gallon, heads down, eyes rolling,
and no thought but that Of escape II
Lake Erie were to dash itself against
a well the shock would be no greater
than the awful crash with which this
mass of ratlling hoofs, sharp horns
and hairy bodies would meet il. The
clatter of hoofs and rattle of horns
would drown the noise of a brigade
of cavalry galioping over stone
paved road.
Ride out on their trail. Here where
the stampede began the ground is
torn and furrOwed as If a thousand
cannon had been firing solid shot al
targets. Here and there are calves
which have been gored or crushed
here and there older animals with
broken legs and disabling wounds
Here, where the herd was fairly of,
you might as we'll 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 rusts
and burrows, where half an hour age
was a carpet of green grass and
smiling flowers. The most dreadful
cyclone known to man could not have
left more horrible sears behind.
Miles away, on the bank of a wind
ing, growing river, are three white
topped emigranG wagons. A camI
fire bIazes up to boil the kettles-meu
women and children stand about
peering ever the setting sun at thu
distant mountains and glad that theil
Journey is almost done. Butterflies
come and 90 on lazy Wing-the crick
cts chjrp cheerily in the grass, and th'
eagles sailing in the blue evening ali
have no warning to give.
HaFk Is that thunder?
Men and women turn III their track
as they look in vain for a cloud in The
sky. That rumble comes again a
they look into each others faces.
: grows louder as women turn pale anC
men reach for their trusty rifles. Til
ground trembles, and afar off comes
din which strikes terror to the heart
! ''Indians!" they whisper. Mol
: thousand times better for them i
savage Pawnee dared ride dow
where those long-barreled rifles cOull
speak III defense of the peacefu
camp.
"a stampede of bufaloes ~ gasp
. one of the men as he catches sight o
j the advance guard under the awfu
cloud of dust. Rifles are held read.
for a shot, and the children climb ul
on the heavy wagon wheels to see til
strange procession galiOp past.
Here they come Crack crack
crack from three rifles, and shou
as each bullet tells. Next instant
; shaggy head. followed by dust brow
BODY rushes through the camp. The
, another and another. The men sh0u
4 and wave their arms-the women an
children turn paier yet.
{ The roar and din shut out ever
1 other sound, and the wagons jar an
; tremble with the c0ncussion. NOl
! another shaggy head-anOther-h
D dozen-a score-a hundred gres
: living wave which sweeps along wit
E the power Of a tornado, followed
others more fierce and strong, and I'll
= camp is blotted off the face Of th
; earth more completely than by an
: power of heaven. Nothing to /
5 seen-no shout to be heard. Wav
followed wave across the spot, ovt
the bank, into the stream and acrOs
o and when the last Of the herd hs
d passed the keenest hunter can fin
!. / nothing on that spot Of wool, or irOl
o or cloth, or bone or flesh to prove tai
> q dozen men, women and ehildre