fter themselves. In five minutes they were
all remounted and rode quietly to the brow of the mound.

Here an interesting sight presented itself. The whole plain was covered
with the huge unwieldy forms of the buffaloes. They were scattered
about, singly and in groups, grazing or playing or lying down, and in
one or two places some of the bulls were engaged in single combat,
pawing the earth, goring each other, and bellowing furiously.

After one look, the hunters dashed down the hill and were in the midst
of the astonished animals almost before they could raise their heads to
look at them. Now commenced a scene which it is not easy to describe
correctly. Each man had selected his own group of animals, so that the
whole party was scattered in a moment.

"Follow me," cried Pemberton to Heywood, "observe what I do, and then go
try it yourself."

The fur-trader galloped at full speed towards a group of buffaloes which
stood right before him, about two hundred yards off. He carried a
single-barrelled gun with a flint lock in his right hand and a bullet in
his mouth, ready to re-load. The buffaloes gazed at him for one moment
in stupid surprise, and then, with a toss of their heads and a whisk of
their tails, they turned and fled. At first they ran with a slow
awkward gait, like pigs; and to one who did not know their powers, it
would seem that the fast-running horses of the two men would quickly
overtake them. But as they warmed to the work their speed increased,
and it required the horses to get up their best paces to overtake them.

After a furious gallop, Pemberton's horse ran close up alongside of a
fine-looking buffalo cow--so close that he could almost touch the side
of the animal with the point of his gun. Dropping the rein, he pointed
the gun without putting it to his shoulder and fired. The ball passed
through the animal's heart, and it dropt like a stone. At the same
moment Pemberton flung his cap on the ground beside it, so that he might
afterwards claim it as his own.

The well-trained horse did not shy at the shot, neither did it check its
pace for a moment, but ran straight on and soon placed its master
alongside of another buffalo cow. In the meantime, Pemberton loaded
like lightning. He let the reins hang loose, knowing that the horse
understood his work, and, seizing the powder-horn at his side with his
right hand, drew the wooden stopper with his teeth, and poured a charge
of powder into