The National tribune., 1902-10-30
and the migrasonwas search for fresher


in struggling herds that covered the prai-
rie like flock 7of lOcusts; in close formed
battaliOns with readers and scouts and
flank guards protecting the cows and the
young: in Ions Zines, single file, leaving the
ground, soft n0m Spring rains, marked
with rutlike. ditch; in mad stampede,
at a numbering gailop that roared like an
ocean tide up halls and down steep ravines,
sure footed as mountain goat, thrashing
through the swollen watercOurse of river
and slough, mp embankments with long
boards and frnged dew-laps dripping; on
and on and on they came, till the tidal
wave of life had rhulked over the sky line
beyond the heaying horizon. Here and
there in the m0wnish-black mass moved
white and gray forms, light-colOred buff
falo, freaks in the animal world.
The age of the calves in each years
herd varied. The writer remembers a
sturdy little buffalo that arrived on the
scene Of this troublous life one freezing
night in January, with a bowling blizzard
and the thermometer at 40 below, q COM
binatiOn that is sufficient to set the teeth
of the most mehdacious northerner chat
tering. The young buffalo spent the first
three days of his life in this gale and was
none the worse, which seems to prove that
climatic apology though it is cold, you
lOnt feel it." Another spindly-legged,
clumsy bundle of fawn and fur in the
same herd counted its natal day from a
sweltering afternoon in August.
Many signs told the buffalo runners
which way to ride for the herd. There
was the trail to the watering place. There
were the salt licks and the wallows and
the crushed grass where two young fellows
had been crashing each others horns in
a trail of strength. There were the bones
of the poor old depOsed kings, picked clean
by the coyotes, or perhaps the lonely out
cast himself, standing at bay, feeble and
frightened, picture of dumb woe? To
such the hunters shot came as mercy
stroke. Or most interesting of all signs
a little bundle of fawn-cOlOred fur, lying,
feet out, fat as a door mat, under hiding
of sage bush or against clay mound pre-
cisely the color of its own hide
Poke it! An ear blinks, or q big ox-like
eye opens. 1t is a buffalo calf left cached
by the mother, who has gone to the water
ing place, or is pasturing with the drove.
Lift it up! 1t is inert as sack of wool.
Let it go! 1t drops to earth fiat and life
less as the door mat. The mother has told
| it how to escape the coyote and wolverine,
and the sly little rascal is playing dead"
But if you fOndle it and warm 1.-THE
Indians say breathe into its FACET for.
gets all about tlIe mothers warning and
follows like pup.
| At the first signs of the herds proximity
the squaws parted from the cavalcade and
all impedimenta was left at their camp.
The best equipped man was the man with
the best horse, a horse that picked out the
largest buffalo from one touch of the
riders hand or foot, that gallOped swift as
the wind in pursuit, that jerked to a stop
directly opposite the brute's shoulders and
| leaped from the sideward sweep of the
charging horns. No sound came from the
hunters till all were within close range.
Then the captain gave the signal, dropped
a flag, waved his hand, or fired a shot; and
the hunters charged.
Arrows whstled through the air. Shots
clattered with the fusilade of artillery vol
leys. Bullets fell to earth with the dull
ping of an aim glanced off the adamant
| head bones or matted shoulder fur of the
buffalo. The Indians shouted their war
cry Of "Ah-oh! Ah-oh" Here and
there French voices screamed "Voila!
Les boeufs! Les boeufs! Sacre! Ton
nerre! Tir-tir-tir-donc! By Carl" And
Missouri traders called out plain and less
picturesque but more forcible English.
Sometimes the suddenness Of attack
dazed the herd, but the second vOlley with
| the smell Of powder and smoke and man
started the stampede. Then followed such
wild rush as IS unknown in the annals Of
any other nunting-up hills, down en-
bankments, over cliffs; through sloughs,
across rivers hard and fast and far as
horses had strength to carry their riders
in boundiess land. Riders were unseated
anu WeuC dOWU III tuc melee, HORSES Caught
on the horns Of charging bulls and ripped
from shoulder to flank; men thrown high
in air, to alight on the back of a buffalo;
Indians with dexter0us aim bringing down
the great brutes with one arrow; unwary
hunters trampled to death under a multi
tude Of hoofs; wounded buffalo turning
with fury on their assailants till pursuer
became pursued and only the fleetness of
the pony saved the hunters life
A retired officer Of the Northwest
Mounted Police, who took part in a Mis-
souri, buffalo run 40 years ago, describes
the impression at the time as of an earth
quake. The galloping horses, the rocking
mass of fleeing buffalo, the rumbling and
quaking of the ground under the thunder
Gus pounding, were all like violent earth
quake. The same gentleman tells how he
once saw wounded buffalo turn on an
Indian hunter. The mans horse took
fright. Instead of darting sideways to
give him a chance to send a last finishing
shot home, the horse became wildly un-
manageable and fled. The buffalo pursued
Off they rushed, rider and buffalo, the In
dian craning over his horses neck, the
horse blown and tagged and unable to
gain one pace ahead of the buffalo, the
great angry beast covered with foam, with
eyes like fire, pounding and pounding
closer-and closer-to the horse till rider
and buffalo disappeared over the horizon
ITO this day l have wondered what be-
came of that Indian" said the officer, "for
the horse was losing and the buffalo gain
ing when they went behind the bluff
This incident illustrates a trait seldom
found in wild animals-a persistent vim
dictiveness.
In word, buffalo hunting was not all
boys play. After the hunt came the gath
ering Of skins and meat. The tongue was
first taken as a delicacy for the great feast
that celebrated every buffalo hunt. To
this was sometimes added the fleece fat"
or hump. White hunters have been ac-
cused of waste, because they used only
the skin, tongue, and hump of the buf-
falo. But what the white hunter left the
Indian took, making pemmican by pound
ing the meat with tallow, drying thinly
shaved slices into ..jerked meat" getting
thread from the buffalo sinews, and shap-
ing implements Of the chase from the
bones. The gathering of the spOils was not
the least dangerous part of the buffalo
hunt. Many an apparently lifeless buffalo
has lunged up in a death thrOe that cost
the hunter dear.-Outing.
FREE TO EVERYONE.
A Priceless Book Sent Free for the Asking.
There are books and books;" some edi-