distant flank, and thundered steadily
on southward.

Dick's own horse, frightened by such a tremendous sight, shied
and jumped, but the boy had a sure seat and brought him around
again. Dick himself was somewhat daunted by the aspect of the
herd. If he and his hose got in the way, they would go down
forever, as surely as if engulfed by an avalanche.

The horse shied again and made a mighty jump, as a huge bull,
red-eyed and puffing, charged by. Dick, who was holding his
rifle in one hand, slipped far over, and with great difficulty
regained his balance on the horse's back. When he was secure
again, he turned his mount and galloped along for some distance
on the flank of the herd, seeking a suitable target for his
bullet. The effect was dizzying. So many thousands were rushing
beside him that the shifting panorama made him wink his eyes
rapidly. Vast clouds of dust floated about, now and then
enveloping him, and that made him wink his eyes, too. But he
continued, nevertheless, to seek for his target a fat cow.
Somehow he didn't seem to see anything just then but old bulls.
They were thick on the flanks of the herd either as stragglers or
protectors, and Dick was afraid to press in among them in his
search for the cow.

His opportunity came at last. A young cow, as fat as one could
wish, was thrown on the outside by some movement of the herd,
caught, as it were, like a piece of driftwood in an eddy, and
Dick instantly fired at her. She staggered and went down, but at
the same instant a huge, shaggy bull careened against Dick and
his horse. It was not so much a charge as an accident, the
chance of Dick's getting in the bull's way, and the boy's escape
was exceedingly narrow.

His horse staggered and fell to his knees. The violence of the
shock wrested Dick's rifle from his hand, and he was barely quick
enough to grasp it as it was sliding across the saddle. But he
did save it, and the horse, trembling and frightened, recovered
his feet. By that time the old bull and his comrades were gone.

Dick glanced around and was relieved to see that nobody had
noticed his plight. They were all too much absorbed in their own
efforts to pay any heed to him. The body took a deep, long
breath. He had killed a buffalo, despite his inexperience.
There was the cow to show for it.

The herd thundered off to the southward, the clouds of dust and
the fringe of wolves following it. About a dozen of their number
had