drove the herd straight toward the
camp on the river where the English officers and chiefs were even now
asleep.

A few animals broke off from the herd and were lost in the bushes, but
the rest ran, packed close, a long column, tapering at the front like an
arrow head, with the big bull as its point. They bellowed with fright
and made a tremendous crashing as they raced over the mile that divided
them from the Indian camp. Warriors heard the uproar, like the bursting
of a storm in the night, and leaped to their feet.

Now Henry fairly surpassed every effort that he had made hitherto. He
leaped more wildly than ever, and redoubled his fierce shouting. He was
so close upon the flank of the last buffaloes that they felt the torches
singeing their hair, and, mad with fear lest they go to their buffalo
heaven sooner than they wished they charged directly upon the Indian
camp.

The wild yells of the warriors joined with Henry's shouts. Alloway,
Cartwright and the others leaped up to see the red eyes, the short
crooked horns and the huge, humped shoulders of the buffaloes bearing
down upon them. Nothing could withstand that rush of mighty bodies and
white men and Indians alike ran for their lives.

The buffaloes came up against the river, and blocked by its deep flood,
turned, and, running over the camp again, crashed away toward the west.
Henry, stopping at a convenient distance, tossed his torches into the
river, and taking the rifle from his back sank into the bushes. Here he
laughed once more, under his breath, but with the most intense delight.
It was the hugest joke of all.

Without any great danger to himself he had made the buffaloes serve him,
and he could still hear them bellowing and crashing in their frantic
flight. Although no lives had been lost, everything in the camp had been
trodden flat. All of their cooking utensils had been smashed, many of
their rifles had been broken, and, the canoes drawn upon the bank, had
been ground under the hoofs of the buffaloes. A hurricane could not have
made a wreck more complete.

Henry saw Alloway emerge from the forest and come back to the scene of
ruin. He had taken off his coat before he lay down, but only fragments
of it remained now. He was red with anger and he swore violently. Yellow
Panther and Red Eagle had lost their blankets, but, whatever they felt,
they kept it to themselves. They looked upon the trodden camp, but they
did not lose their dignity.

"What