Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-07-22

What is that.
Look closer and you will see that il Ia
. gaunt. grim wolf. creeping out of the
title grove Of cottonwoods towards |
,ufalo calf garnboling around its
mother.
Raise your eyes little more and you
will see that the prairie beyond it is
alive with buffalo. Count them, You
might as well try to count the leaves on
a great maple. They are moving foot
by foot as they crop the juicy grass and |
living waves rise ard fall as the herd |
slowly sweep on. Afar out to the right |
and Ieft-mere specks on the plain, are |
the hankers-brave old buffalos, which |
catch bite of grass and then sniff the |
air and scan the horizon for intimation
of danger. Thsy are the sentinels of
the herd. and right well they can be
trusted.
The wolf creeps nearer.
All the afternoon the great herd he's
fed in peace, aud as it slowly moves to-
wards the distant river it is all uncon
scious that danger is near. Look yoa
well and watch the wolf, for you are
going to see such sight as not one man
in ten thousand has ever beheld.
Creep-crawl-skulk-now behind a
knell-now drawing himself over the
grass-now raising his head above d
thistle to mark the locality of it5 We
tim. 1t is lone. shamblIng, skulkIng
wolf, lame and spiteful and treacherous.
Wounded or ailing, he has been left to
get along as bsst he may: and his green
eyes light up with tiercer blaze as he
draws nearer to his unconscious prey.
There! No, he 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
il 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 calf-a furious
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 wolf
is magniied into hundred, the hun
dred into a thousand. Sharp, short bel
lows-notes of alarm-and IN fifty sec
onds after the wolf has wet his fangs
with blood, that living mass is In motion
to get away from an unknown terror.
1hc WAVES liSc AiGucE dAA aikAC1 40
the confusion spreads. One instant it
seems as if 10000 solid acres of prairie
were moving bodily away; again waves
rise and fall as the towards behind
rush upon those in front, who want TO
| sniff the air and learn the danger. In
one minute the alarm runs down the
herd to the leaders, and further than
the eye can see the entire herd is going
| of af Il 1o
rolling, and no thought but that of es-
cape. If Lake Erie were to dash itself
against 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
CHATTER 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 a thousand cannon
had been firing solid shot at targets.
Here and there are calves which have
older animals with broken legs and dis
abling wounds. Here, where the herd
was fairly off. you might as we'll hunt
/ Aoi u SctA dOiihA % a othdO VI SlftSS.
You look for three miles as you look
across 1t. Ii is a trail of dirt and dust,
and ruts and burrows, where half an
smiling flowers. The most dreadful
cyclone known to nan could not
have left more horrible scars behind.
Miles away, on the bank of winding
and growing river, are three white top
4 mad nrpIornnt A Gro
blazes up to boil the kettles; men.
women and children standing about,
peering over the setting sun at the dis
tant mountains, and glad that their
| journey is almost done. Butterflies
come and go on lazy wing; the crickets
chirp cheerily in the grass, and the
eagles sailing in the blue evening air
have no warning to give.
Hank! Is that thuuder2
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 women turn pale and men
reach for their TRASHY rifles. The ground
trembles, and afar off comes din which
strikes terror to the heart. "Indiansr'
they whisper. No! A thousand times
better for them if savage Pawnees dared
ride down where those barrelled rifles
could speak in defence of the peaceful
camp.
"a stampede of buffalosr' gasps one
of the men as he catches sight of the
| advance guard under the awful cloud of
dust. Rifles are held ready for shot,
and the children climb up on the heavy
wagon wheels to see the strange process
| sion palIou past
| Here they come! Crack crack
crack from three rifles, and shout as
each bullet tells. Next instant a shaggy
head, followed by ust-browned body
rushes through the camp. Then another
and another. The men shout and wave
their arms, the women and children
| turn paler yet.
The roar and din shut out every other
sound, and the wagons jar and tremble
with the conc7ssion. Now another
shaggy head another! half dozen !!
score ! a hundred great living
wave which sweeps along with the power
of tornado, followed by others more
fierce and strong, aud the campis bletted
OF the face of the earth more completely
than by any power of heaven. Nothing
to be seen. no shout to be heard. Wave
followed wave across the spot, over the
bank, into the stream and across, and
when the last of the herd has passed,
the keenest hunter can find nothing on
that spot Of wood or iron, of cloth, or
bone, or flesh, to prove that dozen
men, women and children were there
wiped ont of existence and reduced to
shreds and dust.
HOW To SECrRE HEALTH.