n to give chase to a herd of about nine buffaloes
that suddenly came into view as they overtopped an undulation in the
plain.

"It's no use," cried Dick, "I _must_ go at them!"

Joe himself caught fire from the spirit of his young friend, so
calling to Henri to come on and let the pack-horse remain to feed, he
dashed away in pursuit. The buffaloes gave one stare of surprise, and
then fled as fast as possible. At first it seemed as if such huge,
unwieldy carcasses could not run very fast; but in a few minutes they
managed to get up a pace that put the horses to their mettle. Indeed,
at first it seemed as if the hunters did not gain an inch; but by
degrees they closed with them, for buffaloes are not long winded.

On nearing the herd, the three men diverged from each other and
selected their animals. Henri, being short-sighted, naturally singled
out the largest; and the largest--also naturally--was a tough old
bull. Joe brought down a fat young cow at the first shot, and Dick was
equally fortunate. But he well-nigh shot Crusoe, who, just as he was
about to fire, rushed in unexpectedly and sprang at the animal's
throat, for which piece of recklessness he was ordered back to watch
the pack-horse.

Meanwhile, Henri, by dint of yelling, throwing his arms wildly about,
and digging his heels into the sides of his long-legged horse,
succeeded in coming close up with the bull, which once or twice turned
his clumsy body half round and glared furiously at its pursuer with
its small black eyes. Suddenly it stuck out its tail, stopped short,
and turned full round. Henri stopped short also. Now, the sticking out
of a buffalo's tail has a peculiar significance which it is well to
point out. It serves, in a sense, the same purpose to the hunter that
the compass does to the mariner--it points out where to go and what to
do. When galloping away in ordinary flight, the buffalo carries his
tail like ordinary cattle, which indicates that you may push on. When
wounded, he lashes it from side to side, or carries it over his back,
up in the air; this indicates, "Look out! haul off a bit!" But when he
carries it stiff and horizontal, with a _slight curve_ in the middle
of it, it says plainly, "Keep back, or kill me as quick as you can,"
for that is what Indians call the _mad tail_, and is a sign that
mischief is brewing.

Henri's bull displayed the mad tail just before turning, but he didn't
observe it, and, accordingly, waited for the bul