Two weeks after the fight with the Indians, Guy was galloping across
the gently rising hills, that denoted their approach to the Rocky
Mountains, in quest of game. This was the first time he had had an
opportunity offered him to try his gun, as they had seen no living
creature upon the desert of alkali which they had occupied more than a
week in crossing, and but few among the prickly pears and sage-brush
that succeeded the poisonous salts. Of the effects of the latter, each
member of the party had had some experience, and all, for weeks after,
complained of sore lips, chapped hands, and other pains of a like
nature.
Guy was greatly troubled to find that little Aggie and his mother were
the greatest sufferers. Indeed, the latter became so very ill that, for
two or three days, Guy feared he should soon be motherless. Never had
his heart been so heavy as during that time. It was a good thing for
him that he was obliged to work additionally hard, else he might also
have fallen ill from excessive grief. But, as it was, he had no time to
give way to his feeling: there were his mother's duties and his own,
to be performed by his hands alone; little Aggie to be amused, and his
mother often to be cheered by some gay word, when he usually felt much
more like uttering sad ones.
I have mentioned before that Mrs. Loring, though a very good woman, was
often inclined to look on the dark side of things, and so it sometimes
happened that she led Guy to do the same, and he certainly did so
steadily enough during the days his mother lay seriously ill, while he
turned to the bright side instantly when she pronounced herself better,
though he did not for a moment neglect to pay her the same attention as
before.
One morning, when she, for the first time, gathered strength and energy
enough to sit up, Mr. Harwood entered the wagon, and laughingly told
her that as she was so well, he should not let her have Guy to herself
any longer, but should take him with them to hunt some deer that were
feeding on the hills some distance away. Guy looked at his mother and
hesitated, for though he desired, above all things, to take part in a
deer hunt, he did not like to leave his sick mother, until she said:
"Go, my child, you are looking pale and thin already, the excitement
will do you good. It would never do for you to get sick, you know."
And that was how Guy Loring happened to be galloping across the hills
with Mr. Harwood and Mr. Graham, while George and Gus remained at the
camp, enviously watching him. By some skillful manoeuvering, they
managed to approach within gun-shot of the deer, of which there were
five or six, brousing quietly. Guy was very much excited, and would
have fired upon them had not Mr. Harwood told him not to do so until
the last.
Slowly, and with as much patience as they could command, they drew
nearer and nearer the deer. Mr. Graham and Mr. Harwood raised their
rifles to fire, when suddenly the whole herd of deer threw their heads
in the air, looked around wildly, and bounded away with the speed of
the wind.
"What in the world could have startled them so?" exclaimed the
gentlemen in surprise.
Guy looked around in perfect dismay at having lost the chance of firing
at a deer, and quickly exclaimed: "Oh, how provoking, it is the cattle.
They have let the cattle loose."
Mr. Graham uttered an exclamation of delight, "Was there ever such good
luck before?" he cried, "Those are buffaloes! I had no idea we should
find them here so early. Gallop back to the camp, Guy, and tell the
Fraziers! Hurrah!"
Scarcely less excited than Mr. Graham, Guy made a wide circuit of the
spot where the herd of buffaloes, from twenty to thirty in number, were
feeding, and galloped to the camp, where he found five or six young
men, already armed and mounted for the chase. They hastily advised
Guy to remain in camp, but as he had received no direction to do so
from Mr. Harwood, he followed his inclinations, and returned with the
young men to the spot where Mr. Graham and Mr. Harwood were anxiously
awaiting them.
All this time the buffaloes continued to feed without taking the least
notice of the hunters. These after a short consultation, began to ride
gently towards them. The animals remained so quiet that Guy had an
opportunity to look at them carefully. He was surprised to find that
they were not as large as elephants, but on the contrary about the size
of a cow, which animal they closely resembled in the shape of their
bodies, and limbs; but their hair, instead of being of the same length
all over their body, grew in shaggy tufts upon the back and sides, and
lengthened into a sweeping mane upon the neck. This adornment took from
them the peaceful expression of the majority of our domestic cattle,
and gave them instead the terrible one of the untamed lion. This effect
was increased by the wild glare of their eyes. Guy did not at first
notice their horns, which were small, and almost imbedded in their
thick, woolly hair, but it did not need a second look to assure him
that they could do a great deal of harm, if once called into service.
The hunters approached the buffaloes in a semi-circle, Guy occupied
a place near the circle by the side of Mr. Harwood, who unwilling to
disappoint him by sending him back to the camp, had permitted him to
stay. The whole party got within a hundred feet of the buffaloes before
they were even discovered. Then an immense fellow who seemed the leader
of the herd, began to bellow, and tear up the earth with his hoofs, and
in a moment, the whole herd were coursing over the prairie at a pace,
which Guy, when looking at their heavy bodies, had never imagined them
capable of.
"After them!" shouted Mr. Graham, and instantly the hunters spurred on
their horses many of which were used to the sport, and in a few minutes
Guy, who was poorly mounted was left some distance in the rear, while
the foremost of the horsemen were at the very heels of the flying herd.
The dust of the prairie began to rise from beneath their hoofs in
clouds, through which Guy could indistinctly see the buffaloes dashing
forward, one turning occasionally upon some audacious man who had fired
upon him, who would then wheel his horse quickly and escape from the
reach of the infuriated animal, which would continue its flight or fall
to the earth, with a terrible bellow.
Guy had witnessed three or four such falls, and in his excitement
scarcely knowing what he did, went up to the foaming animal intending
to put it out of its misery by a shot from his gun, when, suddenly,
it rose to its feet, staggered forward, and ere Guy could wheel his
frightened horse, plunged his horns into his breast, and buffalo, horse
and rider rolled upon the plain together.
Then succeeded a horrible moment, in which Guy felt himself crushed by
his plunging horse, and heard the cries of the men, the bellowing of
the wounded buffalo, the thunderlike noise of the retreating herd, and
the sharp crack of half a dozen rifles. Then he felt himself lifted
from the ground by Mr. Graham and Mr. Harwood, who exclaimed that it
was a miracle that he was alive, and asked him if he wasn't killed, and
then shouted out for somebody to go in pursuit of the horse, which was
galloping away in the opposite direction to the buffaloes, which were
suffered to depart without any further attempt being made to slaughter
them.