ee, and on leaving the place had forgotten it.

"I took the rope down to examine it: it was no other than a lasso, full
fifty feet long, with an iron ring neatly whipped into the loop-end;
and, on trying it with a pull, I saw it was in the best condition. Of
course, I was not likely to leave such a prize behind me. I had grown,
as you may all conceive, to have a very great regard for a rope,
considering that one had just saved all our lives; so I resolved on
bringing the lasso with me. In order to carry it the more conveniently,
I coiled it, and then hung the coil across my shoulders like a belt. I
next packed my game into the bag, which they filled chock up to the
mouth, and was turning to come back to camp, when my eye fell upon an
object that caused me suddenly to change my intention.

"I was near the edge of the woods, and through the trunks I could see a
large open space beyond, where there were no trees, or only one here and
there. In the middle of this opening there was a cloud of dust, and in
the thick of it I could see two great dark animals in motion. They were
running about, and now and then coming together with a sudden rush; and
every time they did so, I could hear a loud thump, like the stroke of a
sledge-hammer. The sun was shining upon the yellow dust-cloud, and the
animals appeared from this circumstance to be of immense size--much
larger than they really were. Had I not known what kind of creatures
were before me, I should have believed that the mammoths were still in
existence. But I knew well what they were: I had seen many before,
carrying on just such a game. I knew they were buffalo bulls, engaged in
one of their terrible battles.

"Here Basil's narrative was interrupted by a singular incident. Indeed,
it had been interrupted more than once by strange noises that were heard
at some distance off in the woods. These noises were not all alike: at
one time they resembled the barking of a cur dog; at another, they might
have been mistaken for the gurglings of a person who was being hanged;
and then would follow a shriek so dreadful that for some time the woods
would echo with its dismal sound! After the shriek a laugh would be
heard, but a miserable "haw-haw-haw!" unlike the laugh of a sane person.

"All these strange voices were calculated to inspire terror, and so have
they many a time, with travellers not accustomed to the solitary woods
of America. But our young voyageurs were not at all alarmed