,
fired, and dropped another cow.

Elated with success, he was about to reload when a panting bull came up
behind him. He seized his bridle, and swerved a little. The bull
thundered on, mad with rage; its tail aloft, and pursued by Michel
Rollin, who seemed as angry as the bull.

"Hah! I vill stop you!" growled the excited half-breed as he dashed
along.

Animals were so numerous and close around them that they seemed in
danger, at the moment, of being crushed. Suddenly the bull turned sharp
round on its pursuer. To avoid it the horse leaped on one side; the
girths gave way and the rider, saddle and all, were thrown on the bull's
horns. With a wild toss of its head, the surprised creature sent the
man high into the air. In his fall he alighted on the back of another
buffalo--it was scarcely possible to avoid this in the crowd--and
slipped to the ground. Strange to say, Rollin was not hurt, but he was
effectually thrown out of the running for that time, and Victor saw him
no more till evening. We relate no fanciful or exaggerated tale, good
reader. Our description is in strict accordance with the account of a
credible eye-witness.

For upwards of an hour and a half the wild chase was kept up; the plain
was strewn with the dead and dying, and horsemen as well as buffaloes
were scattered far and wide.

Victor suddenly came upon Ian while in pursuit of an animal.

"What luck!" he shouted.

"I've killed two--by accident, I think," said Ian, swerving towards his
comrade, but not slackening his pace.

"Capital! I've killed three. Who's that big fellow ahead after the old
bull?"

"It's Winklemann. He seems to prefer tough meat."

As Ian spoke the bull in question turned suddenly round, just as
Rollin's bull had done, and received Winklemann's horse on its hairy
forehead. The poor man shot from the saddle as if he had been thrown
from a catapult, turned a complete somersault over the buffalo, and fell
on his back beyond. Thrusting the horse to one side, the buffalo turned
and seemed to gore the prostrate German as it dashed onward.

Puffing up at once, both Victor and Ian leaped from their horses and
hastened to assist their friend. He rose slowly to a sitting posture as
they approached, and began to feel his legs with a troubled look.

"Not much hurt, I hope?" said Ian, kneeling beside him. "No bones
broken?"

"No, I think not; mine leks are fery vell, but I fear mine lunks are
gone," answered