rs vanished suddenly from sight, as if
diving into the earth. The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine.
Down we all went in succession and galloped in a line along the bottom,
until we found a point where, one by one, the horses could scramble out.
Soon after we came upon a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly
over the hard sand-beds and through the thin sheets of rippling water,
many of the savage horsemen threw themselves to the ground, knelt on the
sand, snatched a hasty draught, and leaping back again to their seats,
galloped on again as before.

Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to see
them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that
buffalo were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than old
straggling bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would stare
for a moment at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off. At
length we could discern several of these scouts making their signals
to us at once; no longer waving their robes boldly from the top of the
hill, but standing lower down, so that they could not be seen from the
plains beyond. Game worth pursuing had evidently been discovered. The
excited Indians now urged forward their tired horses even more rapidly
than before. Pauline, who was still sick and jaded, began to groan
heavily; and her yellow sides were darkened with sweat. As we were
crowding together over a lower intervening hill, I heard Reynal and
Raymond shouting to me from the left; and looking in that direction,
I saw them riding away behind a party of about twenty mean-looking
Indians. These were the relatives of Reynal's squaw Margot, who, not
wishing to take part in the general hunt, were riding toward a distant
hollow, where they could discern a small band of buffalo which they
meant to appropriate to themselves. I answered to the call by ordering
Raymond to turn back and follow me. He reluctantly obeyed, though
Reynal, who had relied on his assistance in skinning, cutting up, and
carrying to camp the buffalo that he and his party should kill, loudly
protested and declared that we should see no sport if we went with the
rest of the Indians. Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body of
hunters, while Reynal in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill
after his ragamuffin relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in
number, rode in a dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped
forward, and a cloud of