of these
beautiful swells which the grove crowned with its luxuriance.

As the enormous herd came along with its rush and roar, like the
bursting forth of a pent-up flood, the terrified mustangs were too much
frightened to attempt to escape. They shivered in every nerve as if
stricken by an ague.

An immense black bull led the band. He was a few feet in advance of all
the rest. He came roaring along, his tail erect in the air as a
javelin, his head near the ground, and his stout, bony horns projected
as if he were just ready to plunge upon his foe. Crockett writes:

"I never felt such a desire to have a crack at anything in all my life.
He drew nigh the place where I was standing. I raised my beautiful
Betsey to my shoulder and blazed away. He roared, and suddenly stopped.
Those that were near him did so likewise. The commotion occasioned by
the impetus of those in the rear was such that it was a miracle that
some of them did not break their heads or necks. The black bull stood
for a few moments pawing the ground after he was shot, then darted off
around the cluster of trees, and made for the uplands of the prairies.
The whole herd followed, sweeping by like a tornado. And I do say I
never witnessed a sight more beautiful to the eye of a hunter in all my
life."

The temptation to pursue them was too strong for Crockett to resist.
For a moment he was himself bewildered, and stood gazing with
astonishment upon the wondrous spectacle. Speedily he reloaded his
rifle, sprung upon his horse, and set out in pursuit over the green and
boundless prairie. There was something now quite ludicrous in the
scene. There was spread out an ocean expanse of verdure. A herd of
countless hundreds of majestic buffaloes, every animal very ferocious
in aspect, was clattering along, and a few rods behind them in eager
pursuit was one man, mounted on a little, insignificant Mexican pony,
not much larger than a donkey. It would seem that but a score of this
innumerable army need but turn round and face their foe, and they could
toss horse and rider into the air, and then contemptuously trample them
into the dust.

Crockett was almost beside himself with excitement. Looking neither to
the right nor the left, unconscious in what direction he was going, he
urged forward, with whip and spur, the little mustang, to the utmost
speed of the animal, and yet scarcely in the least diminished the
distance between him and the swift-footed buffaloes. E