d a bunch of
soft cords to the saddle and mounted.

"Follow as fast as you can," he called to his surly men. "The buffs
will run north against the wind. This is the right direction for us;
we'll soon leave the sand. Stick to my trail and come a-humming."

From the ridge he met the red sun, rising bright, and a keen
northeasterly wind that lashed like a whip. As he had anticipated, his
quarry had moved northward. Kentuck let out into a swinging stride,
which in an hour had the loping herd in sight. Every jump now took him
upon higher ground, where the sand failed, and the grass grew thicker
and began to bend under the wind.

In the teeth of the nipping gale Jones slipped close upon the herd
without alarming even a cow. More than a hundred little reddish-black
calves leisurely loped in the rear. Kentuck, keen to his work, crept on
like a wolf, and the hunter's great fist clenched the coiled lasso.
Before him expanded a boundless plain. A situation long cherished and
dreamed of had become a reality. Kentuck, fresh and strong, was good
for all day. Jones gloated over the little red bulls and heifers, as a
miser gloats over gold and jewels. Never before had he caught more than
two in one day, and often it had taken days to capture one. This was
the last herd, this the last opportunity toward perpetuating a grand
race of beasts. And with born instinct he saw ahead the day of his life.

At a touch, Kentuck closed in, and the buffalo, seeing him, stampeded
into the heaving roll so well known to the hunter. Racing on the right
flank of the herd, Jones selected a tawny heifer and shot the lariat
after her. It fell true, but being stiff and kinky from the sleet,
failed to tighten, and the quick calf leaped through the loop to
freedom.

Undismayed the pursuer quickly recovered his rope. Again he whirled and
sent the loop. Again it circled true, and failed to close; again the
agile heifer bounded through it. Jones whipped the air with the
stubborn rope. To lose a chance like that was worse than boy's work.

The third whirl, running a smaller loop, tightened the coil round the
frightened calf just back of its ears. A pull on the bridle brought
Kentuck to a halt in his tracks, and the baby buffalo rolled over and
over in the grass. Jones bounced from his seat and jerked loose a
couple of the soft cords. In a twinkling; his big knee crushed down on
the calf, and his big hands bound it helpless.

Kentuck neighed. Jones saw his b