e bird was not more than a dozen feet above the animals' backs and in
vain did the poor creatures try to distance their pursuer. At length
they scattered, each one taking a course of his own. Then the bird did a
strange thing. It singled out the largest buck and persistently
following him, it came directly towards me and passed within ten feet of
my ambush, the broad wings of the antelope's relentless foe casting a
dark shadow over the straining muscles of the beautiful animal's back. I
was tempted to drive the bird away or shoot at it with my revolver, but
the thought that I had seen that bird before restrained me and the fact
that it pursued a strong, healthy buck instead of selecting a weaker and
more easy prey convinced me that this eagle had been trained to the hunt
and was not a wild[2] bird, for the immutable law that "labor follows
the line of least resistance" holds good with all wild creatures. It was
not long before I had to use my field glasses to follow the chase and
then I discovered that the poor prong-horn was showing signs of fatigue.
It had made a grave error in dashing up an incline and the eagle from
his position above knew that the time had come to strike and, like a
thunderbolt, it fell, striking its hooked talons in the graceful neck of
the terror-stricken antelope.

[Footnote 2: The late Howard Eaton of Wolf, Wyoming, watched an
eagle hunt down a prong-horned buck.--EDITOR.]

Hoping to get a nearer view of the last tragedy, I hastened towards the
spot and before I was aware of my position, found myself close to the
herd of buffalo. I then saw that these beasts being unaccustomed to
man, did not fear him, but on the contrary meant to show fight. As I
came to a sudden halt the old bulls began to paw the earth, throwing the
dirt up over their backs and bellowing with a low vibrating roar that
was terror-inspiring. Then they dropped to their knees, rolled on their
backs, got up, shook themselves, licked their noses, "rolled up their
tails" into stiff curves, put down their heads and came at me. The cows
with their hair standing on end like angry elks and bellowing loudly
were not behind their lords in aggressiveness and the comical little
calves came bouncing along after their dame.

Was I frightened? That depends upon one's definition of the word. I was
not panic-stricken, but to say that I was not _excited_ when I saw those
animated masses of dark brown wool come roaring and thundering at me