The Democratic advocate., 1896-03-21
stin Hunting for Buffalo.
From ST Nicholas.

Ii was the next morning after this hunt
that the chief, Little Bear, came to NV
tent, just as l had finished my steak bis
cult, and coffee. He brought two wolfskin
disguises which l had before seen in his
tepee Each was made of two wolf-pelts
sewed together, with mounted nose and
tail, and there were arm holes with short
skin sleeves, and leggings for the thighs,
which came nearly down to the knees, the
whole covering fastened to the body with
deerskin thongs.
He had before promised to take me on
''wolf-hunt' after buffalo, and he now
put on the largest of the coverings. and
maneuvred about in front of nv tent,
showing the various attitudes of the wolf,
in shambhng along, in trotting and in
sneaking upon its prey
His squaw, who was welding her
'cergdba (Aeshing- -knife) upon an up
turned bufalo-pelt pinned to the ground
with wooden pegs, stopped her work and
grinned approval. He certainly mimicked
the wolf well; and the disguise, excepting
the legs and the size, was perfect.
'tHoogh = he said, when he had shown
me how to act in crawling up to game,
1--WE go hunt um te'can that way point
ing to the northwest up the creek.
was glad to go upon still-hunt; for,
to tell the truth, the mixed hurly-burl of
the usual Ponca method, and its useless
dangers, did not commend it to me when
/ had had time to reflect after the excite
ment was over
When Little Bear and / mounted our
ponies and rode out that morning, the
camp was in an uproar, as usual in the
preparation for hunt A scout had
come in with news of big herd to the
eastward, and the Indians were running
in ponies, saddling and cinching them on
all hands, and there was much bucking
and plunging among the wild and skittish
ones, as usual. Squaws were hustling
about at the command of their lords and
masters, and young lads, in half-leggings
and short shirts, were rushing to and fro,
making great parade of helping to get
the hunters started.
Little Bear must have told his leaders
of the proposed hunt with me, for no one
paid the slightest attention to our going
out.
We logged directly up the little valley
for an hour or more; and then, in round
ing point of the hill, sighted large band
of buffalo feeding among the rayines, and
upon the slopes on the opposite side Of the
valley. There was an immense number
in sight, but, as the high grounds were
covered as far over as we could see, we
knew there must be more beyond,
Little Bear grunted with huge satisfac-
ton, and gave me to understand in hurried
words of Ponca and pigeon English that
the big herds were coming down from the
north.
We hustled our ponies into ravine
near at hand, and tied them to some bull
berry bushes. Then, carrying our dis
guises and guns, the chief with his bow
and arrows at his back, we slipped down
the raviue into the creek channel, keeping
entirely out of sight of the herd. The
wind was fairly in our favor, and we kept
along the bed of the stream, in which ran
a little trickling brook at the bottom, until
we reached the mouth Of dry run leading
across the valley and through the middle
of the herd There were such runs and
ravines cutting back into the hills every
half mile or SO.
Up this gully We went at a jog-trot,
bending low, until it became so shallow
that we could begin to see the buffalo upon
the hills above.
The chief then squatted and motioned
me down We put on the wOlf-skins, he
taking the largest; for, despite his name,
he was large and powerfully made man.
Adjusting the eye-holes so that we could
see plainly, we crawled out upon the open
ground upon our hands and knees. Al
most the first thing that happened to me
was to get one of my knees filed with
cactus spikes and while l writhed about
trying to pull them out, I heard Little
Bear growing under his breath, "Hooghl
te,can heap plenty-we kill heap r