After a breakfast of fresh buffalo-meat we took the road in high
spirits. The long-expected sport would soon come off. Every step
showed us "buffalo sign"--tracks, wallows, fresh ordure. None of the
animals were yet in sight, but the prairie was filled with undulations,
and no doubt "a gang" would be found in some of the valleys.
A few miles farther on, and we came suddenly upon a "buffalo road,"
traversing the prairie nearly at right angles to our own direction.
This caused a halt and consultation. Should we follow the road? By all
means thought every one. The tracks were fresh--the road a large one--
thousands of buffaloes must have passed over it; where were they now?
They might be a hundred miles off, for when these animals get upon one
of those regular roads they often journey at great speed, and it is
difficult to overtake them. When merely browsing over the prairie the
case is different. Then they travel only a few miles a day, and a
hunter trailing them soon comes up with the gang.
Ike and Redwood were consulted as to what was best to be done. They had
both closely examined the trail, bending down to the ground, and
carefully noting every symptom that would give them a clue to the
condition of the herd--its numbers--its time of passing--the rate of its
speed, etcetera.
"Thur's a good grist o' 'em," said Ike, "leastways a kupple o' thousand
in the gang--thur's bulls, cows, yearlins, an' young calf too, so we'll
have a choice o' meat--either beef or veal. Kin we do better than
foller 'em up? Eh, Mark?"
"Wal! I don't think we can, ole boss," replied Redwood. "They passed
hyur yesterday, jest about noon--that is the thick o' the drove passed
then."
"How do you tell that?" inquired several.
"Oh, that's easy made out," replied the guide, evidently regarding the
question as a very simple one; "you see most o' these hyur tracks is a
day old, an' yet thur not two."
"And why not?"
"Why how could they be two," asked the guide in astonishment, "when it
rained yesterday before sun-up? Thur made since the rain, yu'll admit
that?"
We now remembered the rain, and acknowledged the truth of this
reasoning. The animals must have passed since it rained; but why not
immediately after, in the early morning? How could Redwood tell that it
was the hour of noon? How?
"Easy enough, comrades," replied he.
"Any greenhorn mout do that," added Ike. The rest, however, were
puzzled and waited the explanation.
"I tells this a way," continued the guide. "Ef the buffler had passed
by hyur, immediately after the rain, thar tracks wud a sunk deeper, and
thar wud a been more mud on the trail. As thar ain't no great slobber
about, ye see, I make my kalklations that the ground must a been well
dried afore they kim along, and after such a wet, it could not a been
afore noon at the least--so that's how I know the buffler passed at that
hour."
We were all interested in this craft of our guides, for without
consulting each other they had both arrived at the same conclusion by
the same process of mental logic. They had also determined several
other points about the buffalo--such as that they had not all gone
together, but in a straggling herd; that some had passed more rapidly
than the rest; that no hunters were after them; and that it was probable
they were not bound upon any distant migration, but only in search of
water; and the direction they had taken rendered this likely enough.
Indeed most of the great buffalo roads lead to watering-places, and they
have often been the means of conducting the thirsty traveller to the
welcome rivulet or spring, when otherwise he might have perished upon
the dry plain. Whether the buffalo are guided by some instinct towards
water, is a question not satisfactorily solved. Certain it is, that
their water paths often lead in the most direct route to streams and
ponds, of the existence of which they could have known nothing
previously. It is certain that many of the lower animals possess either
an "instinct," or a much keener sense in these matters than man himself.
Long before the thirsty traveller suspects the propinquity of water,
his sagacious mule, by her joyful hinney, and suddenly altered bearing,
warns him of its presence.
We now reasoned that if the buffalo had been making to some
watering-place, merely for the purpose of drinking and cooling their
flanks, they would, of course, make a delay there, and so give us a
chance of coming up. They had a day the start of us, it is true, but we
should do our best to overhaul them. The guides assured us we were
likely to have good sport before we came up with the great gang. There
were straggling groups they had no doubt, some perhaps not over thirsty,
that had hung in the rear. In high hopes, then, we turned our heads to
the trail, and travelled briskly forward.
We had not gone many hundred yards when a very singular scene was
presented to our eyes. We had gained the crest of a ridge, and were
looking down into a little valley through which ran the trail. At the
bottom of the valley a cloud of dust was constantly rising upward, and
very slowly moving away, as the day was quite calm. Although there had
been rain a little over thirty hours before, the ground was already
parched and dry as pepper. But what caused the dust to rise? Not the
wind--there was none. Some animal then, or likely more than one!
At first we could perceive no creature within the cloud, so dun and
thick was it; but after a little a wolf dashed out, ran round a bit, and
then rushed in again, and then another and another, all of them with
open jaws, glaring eyes, manes erect, and tails switching about in a
violent and angry manner. Now and then we could only see part of their
bodies, or their bushy tails flung upward, but we could hear by their
yelping barks that they were engaged in a fierce contest either among
themselves, or with some other enemy. It was not among themselves, as
Ike and Redwood both affirmed.
"An old bull 's the game," said they; and without waiting a moment, the
two trappers galloped forward, followed closely by the rest of our
party. We were soon in the bottom of the little valley. Ike already
cracking away at the wolves--his peculiar enemies. Several others, led
away by the excitement, also emptied their pieces at these worthless
creatures, slaying a number of them, while the rest, nearly a dozen in
all, took to their heels, and scampered off over the ridges.
The dust gradually began to float off, and through the thinner cloud
that remained we now saw what the wolves had been at. Standing in the
centre of a ring, formed by its own turnings and struggles, was the huge
form of a buffalo-bull. Its shape indicated that it was a very old one,
lank, lean, and covered with long hair, raggled and torn into tufts.
Its colour was that of the white dust, but red blood was streaming
freshly down its hind flanks, and from its nose and mouth. The
cartilage of the nose was torn to pieces by the fierce enemies it had so
lately encountered, and on observing it more closely we saw that its
eyes were pulled out of their sockets, exhibiting a fearful spectacle.
The tail was eaten off by repeated wrenches, and the hind-quarters were
sadly mangled. Spite of all this mutilation, the old bull still kept
his feet, and his prowess had been proved, for no less than five wolves
lay around, that he had "rubbed out" previous to our arrival. He was a
terrible and melancholy spectacle--that old bull, and all agreed it
would be better to relieve him by a well-aimed bullet. This was
instantly fired at him; and the animal, after rocking about a while on
his spread legs, fell gently to the earth.
Of course he had proved himself too tough to be eatable by anything but
prairie-wolves, and we were about to leave him as he lay. Ike, however,
had no idea of gratifying these sneaking creatures at so cheap a rate.
He was determined they should not have their dinner so easily, so taking
out his knife he extracted the bladder, and some of the smaller
intestines from the buffalo. These he inflated in a trice, and then
rigging up a sapling over the body, he hung them upon it, so that the
slightest breeze kept them in motion. This, as we had been already
assured, was the best mode of keeping wolves at a distance from any
object, and the hunter, when wolves are near, often avails himself of it
to protect the venison or buffalo-meat which he is obliged to leave
behind him.
The guide having rigged his "scare wolf," mounted his old mare, and
again joined us, muttering his satisfaction as he rode along.
We had not travelled much farther when our attention was attracted by
noises in front, and again from a ridge we beheld a scene still more
interesting than that we had just witnessed. As before, the actors were
buffalo and wolves, but this time there was very little dust, as the
contest was carried on upon the green turf--and we could see distinctly
the manoeuvres of the animals.
There were three buffaloes--a cow, her calf, and a large bull that was
acting as their champion and protector. A pack of wolves had gathered
around them, in which there were some of the larger species, and these
kept up a continuous attack, the object of which was to destroy the
calf, and its mother if possible. This the bull was using all his
endeavours to prevent, and with considerable success too, as already
several of the wolves were down, and howling with pain. But what
rendered the result doubtful was that fresh wolves were constantly
galloping up to the spot, and the buffaloes would likely have to yield
in time. It was quite amusing to see the efforts made by the cunning
brutes, to separate the calf front its protector. Sometimes they would
get it a few feet to the one side, and fling it to the ground; but
before they could do it any great injury, the active bull, and the cow
as well, would rush forward upon them, scattering the cowardly creatures
like a flock of birds. Then the calf would place itself between the old
ones, and would thus remain for a while, until the wolves, having
arranged some new plan, would recommence the attack, and drive it forth
again. Once the position was strikingly in favour of the buffaloes.
This position, which seemed in the hurry of the conflict to turn up
accidentally, was in fact the result of design, for the old ones every
now and then endeavoured to renew it, but were hindered by the stupidity
of the calf. The latter was placed between them in such a way that the
heads of the bull and cow were in opposite directions, and thus both
flanks were guarded. In this way the buffaloes might have held their
ground, but the silly calf when closely menaced by the wolves foolishly
started out, rendering it necessary for its protectors to assume a new
attitude of defence.
It was altogether a singular conflict, a touching picture of parental
fondness. The end of it was easily guessed. The wolves would tire out
the old ones, and get hold of the calf of course, although they might
spend a long time about it. But the great herd was distant, and there
was no hope for the cow to get her offspring back to its protection. It
would certainly be destroyed.
Notwithstanding our sympathy for the little family thus assailed, we
were not the less anxious to do for them just what the wolves wished to
do--kill and eat them. With this intent we all put spur to our horses,
and galloped right forward to the spot.
Not one of the animals--neither wolves nor buffaloes--took any notice of
us until we were within a few yards of them. The wolves then scampered
off, but already the cracking rifles and shot-guns were heard above the
shouts of the charging cavalcade, and both the cow and calf were seen
sinking to the earth. Not so the huge bull. With glaring eyeballs he
glanced around upon his new assailants, and then, as if aware that
farther strife was useless, he stretched forth his neck, and breaking
through the line of horsemen, went off in full flight.
A fresh touch of the spur, with a wrench of the bridle-rein, brought our
horses round, and set their heads after him, and then followed as fine a
piece of chasing as I remember to have taken part in. The whole eight
of us swept over the plain in pursuit, but as we had all emptied our
pieces on first charging up, there was not one ready to deliver a shot
even should we overtake the game. In the quick gallop no one thought of
re-loading. Our pistols, however, were still charged, and these were
grasped and held in readiness.
It was one of the most exciting chases. There before us galloped the
great game, under full view, with neither brake nor bush to interrupt
the pleasure of our wild race. The bull proved to be one of the fastest
of his kind--for there is a considerable difference in this respect. He
led us nearly half-a-mile across the ridges before even the best of our
horses could come up, and then just as we were closing in upon him,
before a shot had been fired, he was seen to give a sudden lounge
forward and tumble over upon the ground.
Some of us fancied he had only missed his footing and stumbled; but no
motion could be perceived as we rode forward, and on coming up he was
found to be quite dead! A rifle-bullet had done the work--one that had
been fired in the first volley; and his strong fast run was only the
last spasmodic effort of his life.
One or two remained by the dead bull to get his hide and the "tit-bits"
of his meat, while the rest rode back to recover the more precious cow
and calf. What was our chagrin to find that the rascally wolves had
been before us! Of the tender calf, not a morsel remained beyond a few
tufts of hairy skin, and the cow was so badly torn and mutilated that
she was not worth cutting up! Even the tongue, that most delicate bit,
had been appropriated by the sneaking thieves, and eaten out to the very
root.
As soon as they had observed us coming back, they had taken to their
heels, each carrying a large piece with him, and we could now see them
out upon the prairie devouring the meat before our very eyes. Ike was
loud in his anathemas, and but that the creatures were too cunning for
him, would have taken his revenge upon the spot. They kept off,
however, beyond range of either rifle or double-barrel, and Ike was
forced to nurse his wrath for some other occasion.
We now went back to the bull, where we encamped for the night. The
latter, tough as he was, furnished us an excellent supper from his
tongue, hump-ribs, boudins, and marrow bones, and we all lay down to
sleep and dream of the sports of to-morrow.