se driven over were killed or disabled by the
fall, and only a few got away. The pis'kuns, as a rule, were built under
low-cut bluffs, and sometimes the buffalo were driven in by moonlight.

In connection with the subject of leading or decoying the buffalo, another
matter not generally known may be mentioned. Sometimes, as a matter of
convenience, a herd was brought from a long distance close up to the
camp. This was usually done in the spring of the year, when the horses were
thin in flesh and not in condition to stand a long chase. I myself have
never seen this; but my friend, William Jackson, was once present at such a
drive by the Red River half-breeds, and has described to me the way in
which it was done.

The camp was on Box Elder Creek near the Musselshell River. It was in the
spring of 1881, and the horses were all pretty well run down and thin, so
that their owners wished to spare them as much as possible. The buffalo
were seven or eight miles distant, and two men were sent out to bring them
to the camp. Other men, leading fresh horses, went with them, and hid
themselves among the hills at different points along the course that the
buffalo were expected to take, at intervals of a mile and a half. They
watched the herd, and were on hand to supply the fresh horses to the men
who were bringing it.

The buffalo were on a wide flat, and the men rode over the hill and
advanced toward the herd at a walk. At length the buffalo noticed them, and
began to huddle up together and to walk about, and at length to walk
away. Then the men turned, and rode along parallel to the buffalo's course,
and at the same gait that these were taking. When the buffalo began to
trot, the men trotted, and when the herd began to lope, the men loped, and
at length they were all running pretty fast. The men kept about half a mile
from the herd, and up even with the leaders. As they ran, the herd kept
constantly edging a little toward the riders, as if trying to cross in
front of them. This inclination toward the men was least when they were far
off, and greatest when they drew nearer to them. At no time were the men
nearer to the herd than four hundred yards. If the buffalo edged too much
toward the riders, so that the course they were taking would lead them away
from camp, the men would drop back and cross over behind the herd to the
other side, and then, pushing their horses hard, would come up with the
leaders,--but still at a distance from