CHAPTER X.
BUFFALO.
"Hugh," said Jack, as they sat at breakfast one morning, "oughtn't we tosee some buffalo pretty soon? We've been seeing a lot of sign, and itseems to me that it's growing fresher all the time."
"That's so, son," answered Hugh; "it is growing fresher, and I believethat we're liable to see buffalo most any day now. Maybe we'll see someto-day. You took notice that the sign has been growing fresher all thetime, but I don't know if you saw that these buffalo are moving justabout the same way we are. Of course they ain't travelling; they're justkind o' feeding along, but if you watch the tracks we pass to-day,you'll see that the most of 'em are pointing just about the way we'regoing. Now, we've been travelling right smart and fast, not stopping foranything, ever since we first struck the sign. When we first saw it, itwas right old. Now it's fresh. That means that we are following up thebuffalo, and catching up to 'em, and I wouldn't be surprised if we wereto see some before we camp to-night." Hugh stopped speaking, filled hispipe, and leaning over toward the fire, picked up a brand and lightedit. "Well," he went on, "if you'll saddle up now, I'll fix up thesedishes, and make up the packs, and we'll move along."
Jack went out and brought in the horses, and tied them up to somebushes. Then he put the saddles on the pack horses, and drew the cinchesup on them well, but did not tie them. Next he saddled Hugh's horse, andthen his own, in each case leaving the latigos untied. By the time hehad returned to the fire, Hugh had made up his packs, and when Jack sawthat they were ready, he brought up the pack horses, one by one, andafter re-cinching each animal, the loads were speedily in position. Thetwo riders mounted, and they moved off in a single file, Hugh leading,the pack horses following and Jack as usual bringing up in the rear onPawnee.
All through the morning they travelled on over the gray prairie.Antelope were plenty and tame, and often ventured within shot of thetrain, but they had meat in one of the packs, and neither Hugh nor Jackfelt like molesting the pretty animals. There were many flowers to beseen on the prairie; bunches of brilliant red or yellow cactus and whitepoppy bells swinging in the wind. Now and then, in some low places,where it was too damp for the sage to grow, they saw patches of blue andpink lupine, and occasionally a bunch of white flowers, which Hugh hadtold Jack was the loco; a plant which poisons animals that eat it.
About noon Hugh halted near a little hill, and said to Jack, "Let'sleave the pack horses here to feed, and ride up on top of that bluff. Ithink maybe we'll see something." They did so, and when they reached itscrest, Hugh, after looking over the landscape for a few moments,pointed away to the north, and said, "Buffalo." Jack looked hard, butcould see nothing that looked like a buffalo, but far off on the distanthillside he saw some tiny black specks, which he knew must be thelonged-for animals.
"Now, Hugh," he said, "how do you know that those are buffalo, and notcattle or horses?"
"Well," said Hugh, "to tell you the truth, I don't believe I can tellyou how I know, but I know it all the same. In the first place, in thisrange of country where we are now, there ain't any cattle or any horses,without they're Indian horses. Now, of course it might be such a thingthat there'd be a little bunch of Indian horses scattered out on thehill-side like that, and all of 'em dark coloured animals, but I don'tbelieve it. I wouldn't look to see horses in such a place as that;they're too far from any stream, and they don't look right for horses.At the same time, they're too far off for me to tell by their shape orthe way they act that they ain't horses. But you keep on, and before theday's over, we'll see more buffalo, and close to us, too; and maybebefore this trip's over, you'll get to know buffalo when you see 'em asfar off as that, even if you can't tell how it is you know what theyare."
Two or three miles beyond this they stopped at a little stream, wherethere were a few trees, and unpacked their animals and turned them outto graze, while they built a fire and cooked a meal. After they hadeaten, and prepared the packs again, Hugh said, "Now, we'll let thesehorses eat for an hour longer before packing up, and then we'll start,and if we have to, we can make quite a long drive before night." Theymade themselves comfortable under the shade of the tree, and presentlyHugh said to Jack, "Son, do you mind the lecture I gave you abouthunting, when you first came out into this country, more than a yearago? That was the day you killed your first antelope, I think."
"Yes, of course I remember, Hugh," replied Jack. "I didn't understandeverything that you told me then, but I've remembered it all a good manytimes since, and what you said to me has helped me a whole lot."
"Well," said Hugh, "I expect I did talk a heap that day, but I wanted tokind o' try and start you on the right road. I mind, though, that whileI was talking, I kept thinking I was kind o' like one of them professorsthat we see out in this country sometimes; them fellows that come out todig bones, and catch bugs, and all sorts of little lizards, snakes andother varmints. I heard one of them talking once, and he just kept righton for two or three hours, telling us about how the earth was made, andhow this used to be water where it is all dry now, and a whole parcel ofthings that I didn't understand, and I don't believe anybody else did,except the man that was talking."
"Well, Hugh," said Jack, "there isn't anybody that knows it all, andthese professors know about bones and bugs, and you know about huntingand trailing, and fighting Indians. I suppose there ain't any man butwhat could teach 'most any other man something."
"That's so, son; you're dead right, but the trouble with most of us is,we set a heap of store by what we know, and we don't think very much ofwhat other people know. I expect the smartest men of all is them that'salways anxious to learn, and always a-learning. But what I set out tosay was something about buffalo, and killing buffalo. Now, of course,you're a boy; a pretty sensible boy, I'll allow, but, after all, you'rea boy, and you're liable to get excited. Now, you know, we're travellingnow; we ain't here for pleasure; we're trying to go somewhere; so if wecome on buffalo, right close, sudden, I don't want you to go crazy, andstart off to chase 'em. You're here now, a-helping to take care of thispack train, and you mustn't lose your packs. You'll have plenty ofchances to kill buffalo; likely you'll have a chance to-day; but whenyou start in to kill your first buffalo, see that you go at it right.Now, a buffalo is awful easy killed. Where they're plenty, you can creepright up close to 'em, and kill 'em by still hunting, but of course it'slots more fun to run 'em. You've got a good horse, and he'll take youright up to any cow that runs on the prairie. When you get a chance tochase buffalo, remember that you mustn't shoot until you get right upclose to 'em. Ride right up close by the cow's side, and then shoot, andyour horse will turn off a little, so as to get out of the way in casethe cow should charge. You needn't mind your horse at all; he'll takecare of himself, and won't step into any badger hole, or fall with you;but you've got to look out for your riding, for if a cow turns quick,and your horse has to whirl quick, you may slide off, if you haven't gotthe horse well between your legs. Another thing is, that a buffalostands awful high, and you're likely to shoot too high, and put a lotof bullets into an animal where they won't hurt it a particle. You mustremember that in a buffalo, as in every other animal that I knowanything about, the life lies low. If you're on a horse, you'll beshooting down, of course, but try to shoot so that the ball will cut thebuffalo only a few inches above the brisket. I've seen lots of youngfellows waste ammunition on buffalo; fellows that could shoot prettywell, too; only they didn't know where to shoot; they all shot too high.The boss ribs on a buffalo stick so far up into the air that there'spretty nigh as much of the animal above its backbone as there is below,and that's awful deceiving, and tends to make a man shoot high. Now, Iexpect likely you'll remember all this that I've told you, and won'thave any trouble at all. You take hold of things about hunting quickerthan any boy I ever saw."
"I'm much obliged to you for telling me this, Hugh, and I'll try hard toremember it. I expect I'll get excited when I have my first chance toshoot at a buffalo. They're so big, you see; bigger than anything I everhad a c
hance to shoot at."
"Yes," said Hugh, "maybe you'll feel that way the first time or two;but, Lord! you'll get used to it after a little while, and you'll onlywant to kill buffalo when you're hungry. Mind what I tell you, though,about your riding. I'd hate almightily to see you go flying off yourhorse, when you're after a bunch of buffalo, the way you did that timelast summer when you were chasing the wolf."
"That's so," said Jack, "I flew a long way that time, but I hope I'm agood deal better rider now than I was then."
"Yes," said Hugh, "I expect you are. You ought to be, anyhow. But Iwant you to be as careful as you know how. There's been a whole lot ofmen killed by chasing buffalo; hooked by them, or had their horses fallwith them, or been thrown a long way, and had their guns driven throughtheir bodies. I've seen a lot of accidents in my time. Well," he wenton, as he lighted his pipe again, "let's saddle up and move."
As they rode on, through the afternoon, they saw more and more buffalo.Several bunches that they passed were not more than a half mile fromthem, but, though Jack was very anxious to have a shot, he said nothing,feeling pretty sure that his chance would come before very long. Towardevening they came to a little stream, flowing through a narrow valleywhere there was wood, and a nice grassy flat. Here Hugh halted, and saidto Jack, "I did calculate that we'd go on five or six miles further, tothe main creek, but I guess maybe we'll stop here and make camp, andthen, before we eat, we'll ride out a little way and see if we can'tkill some meat. That last antelope is pretty near gone, and it might besuch a thing that we could kill a buffalo."
"All right," said Jack, "that will suit me first class."
They took the packs off the horses, picketed them out, and then,tightening their saddles, rode up out of the creek valley, and towardsome rough, broken buttes that rose from the prairie two or three milesto the west. Half an hour's riding brought them to a broken country,and, dismounting at the foot of a hill rather taller than the others,they climbed on foot to its summit. Here Jack saw a curious sight. Tothe west, many buffalo could be seen; some of them quite near; others,far off. All of them were moving; not running, but walking along insingle file, one after another, like so many cows moving through apasture.
"Why, what are they doing, Hugh?" asked Jack; "and where in the worldare they going? They seem to be all travelling, but in differentdirections. I supposed that when buffalo wanted to go anywhere they allran off in a great crowd, but these are walking along slowly, butwalking as if they were determined to go somewhere."
"That's just what they're doing, son; they're going to water, and eachone of them bunches that you see is heading right straight for thenearest water. Some of them look like they was going right down to ourcamp, and here comes a bunch that are going to pass right close to us.Do you see that trail that passes right at the foot of this hill? Well,that's a buffalo trail, and if I ain't mightily mistaken, them nearestbuffalo is going to follow that trail, and come right close by where weleft the horses. We'll go down and get 'em and bring 'em up a littlefurther, behind that shoulder, and sit by 'em until the buffalo come,and then you'll have a chance to kill one, and we'll have some fat cowto eat to-night."
"That will be great," said Jack; "of course I'd rather chase them, butthen, as you said to-day, we ain't out here for fun, and I don't supposeit would be good sense to run Pawnee down, chasing buffalo. He's beentravelling all day, and it wouldn't do him any good to give him a racenow."
"That's good sense, son. Take care of your horse, and take care of yourgun, always, in this country. When we get to the Piegan camp there'll bea whole lot of chances to run buffalo, and to run 'em with a freshhorse. It would be just foolishness to do it now. Come on." Hugh led theway down the hill to the horses, and bringing the animals a littlehigher up the hill and so out of sight, they crept over to a shoulder,from which they could plainly see the buffalo trail passing only fortyyards distant. They had not sat there long when Hugh touched Jack, andmotioned with his head, and, as he looked, Jack saw one buffalo afteranother come in sight around the point of the bluff until twelve werevisible. "It's a little bunch of cows," said Hugh, in a low voice, "andfive of 'em have got calves. There's two heifers, and one of those youwant to kill. Take the last one, or else the one that's third from theend; they're the two heifers, and they'll be fat, and first-class meat.Take notice of these cows; you'll see their horns are slim and turnedin. A bull's horns are a great deal stouter, and don't turn in near somuch. Now, pick your animal, and get ready, and when she's opposite tous, shoot. Try not to kill one of the old cows; she won't be half asgood meat as the heifer."
Jack lay there and watched, and his heart was beating fast, as thebuffalo approached. They seemed to walk slowly and heavily, kicking up agood deal of dust, their beards almost sweeping the ground. The littlecalves, to Jack's great surprise, were reddish in colour, and seemed tohave no hump at all. In fact, they looked like little red farm calves.They were strong and active, and seemed to be very playful, sometimesrunning short races, away from the trail, and again coming back andfalling into the line behind their mothers. Though to the eye thebuffalo seemed ponderous and slow, it took them but a little time to getup opposite where Jack sat. When they had done so he settled himself andbegan to aim, and Hugh said, "Remember now, low down, and a leetle bitahead of where you want to hit; they're moving, you know." Jack fired,and all the buffalo stopped and looked about them. "Did I hit her?" saidJack. "I think I must have."
"Yes," said Hugh, "you hit her, and you hit her right. She'll be down ina minute, and then I think the others will go on."
In a moment or two the heifer at which Jack had fired walked slowly outof the trail, and lay down, and the other buffalo, after looking about,started on, and in a few moments had disappeared behind another rise ofground.
"Well," said Hugh, "let's go and get the horses, I expect likely she'llbe dead by the time we get to her." Jack was trembling a little when herose and followed Hugh, but by the time he was in the saddle he hadcooled down again. They rode toward the heifer, which had fallen over onher side and was moving still--not quite dead. Jack was about to ride upto her, when Hugh said, "Hold on! Wait a little; give her a chance todie." They dismounted at a little distance from the animal, and walkedaround to her head, but still fifteen or twenty yards distant.
"Now, I have often told you," said Hugh, "not to go up to an animalwithout a load in your gun, and I'll tell you now, never to go up to abuffalo unless you're sure it's dead. I was hunting once with a partner,trying to get some meat to take into the railroad, and we shot three orfour buffalo from a stand, and then went down and drove the others off,and started in to butcher. There was one cow that was moving a little,and my partner went up to her to cut her throat, and when he had nearlygot to her, she jumped up and ran against him, and threw up her head,and then fell down dead, and when I got to him I found that one horn hadsplit him open from the waist to the throat, and he died while I stoodlooking at him. That's always made me feel scared of a wounded buffalo.That cow keeps on moving. Just fire a shot into her head, just in frontof the horns, and above the eyes." Jack did so, and the cow stretchedout her legs and lay still. "Lots of people will tell you," said Hugh,"that you can't kill a buffalo by shooting it in the forehead. They saythat the skull's so thick, and the hide and the hair makes such a matthat a ball won't go into it. Don't you ever believe them. If you shoota buffalo in the forehead, and aim your gun right, so's to hit itsbrain, you kill it every time."
They took as much of the meat of the heifer as their horses could carry,and returned to camp.