=8.= The herd would pass and vanish in the night
How long was the herd in passing?
During this time, and for fifty years thereafter, bison herds
often covered the plains as far as the eye could see. In the
60’s travellers on the old Oregon trail often journeyed through
one solid herd for as much as three days, and on either side the
prairie was filled to the horizon.
=23.= So might a child assail the crowding sea!
The comparison of the on-rushing herd to high sea tide, notable
in itself, is greatly strengthened by the comparison of Hugh to
a child assaulting the waters. Note the impulse of the defeated
to act in absurd ways. Note the epithet, “crowding.”