CHAPTER XXVII.
A MORNING MEAL.
The two boys stood on the edge of a prairie which had a varying width offrom one to three miles. Looking to the right and the left, neither endcould be seen, so that there was no means of judging its length.
The trail led straight across to the wilderness on the other side, whichat that point was all of two miles distant. You can understand thatwalking was so much easier on the open ground that any party oftravelers would hasten to take advantage of such a chance. The hoofs ofthe half dozen horses had left such a distinct impression that the eyecould follow the trail a long ways from the margin of the woods.
This prairie was entirely covered with a growth of succulent grass. Theseason was so late that it had lost most of its verdancy, but there wasan abundance of nutriment in the blades and it was splendidfeeding-ground--one of those breaks in the almost limitless forest ofwhich grazing animals were sure to take advantage.
The boys had paused only a minute or two, gazing out on the almost levelexpanse, when Terry uttered an exclamation of delight and pointed to theright. Looking in that direction (as Fred had done at the moment hiscompanion spoke), he saw a welcome sight indeed. A herd of buffaloeswere cropping the grass within gunshot of the young hunters.
As I have said in another place, there were no such droves as havesometimes been seen on the vast prairies of the far west, numberingfully a hundred thousand, though a century ago some amazing collectionsof animals were met within sight of the Mississippi.
The herd upon which our friends looked with so much interest numberedlittle more than a hundred, and they were ruminating along the side ofthe prairie instead of cropping the grass in the middle of the plain.Some of them seemed to be browsing among the trees and undergrowth, butthe major part were scattered over the prairie to a distance of twohundred yards, while they were strung to a still greater extent parallelwith the course of the prairie itself. From this you will see they weremuch dispersed, none of them being close to another, except he may havebrushed against him now and then.
The front of the drove was not less than two hundred feet away andothers could be heard ruminating among the trees, where their huge bushyheads and big round eyes were often thrust into view. Some of them mayhave caught sight of the lads, but if so, they did not consider themworth attention, for they continued browsing and grazing, advancing stepby step toward the spot where our young friends stood.
"Frederick," said Terry, laying his hand on the arm of his companion,and speaking with the gravity of a judge, "whin ye swoop yer gaze onthim playthings out there, bear in mind that there's our breakfast, asme grandmither obsarved whin the dinner table upsit and ivery thingrolled down cellar."
"Our opinion is unanimous on that point; I have already selected myvictim, and if you will go away and start a fire, it will hurry mattersalong."
"It ain't as bad as that," said Terry in some surprise, "I'm not so neardead that I'm goin' to die in ten minutes if I don't git somethin' toate: I will stay and superintind the operations of shootin' one of themlittle pets out there."
"It isn't the first buffalo I have killed--"
"I'm not aware that ye have killed that yit," interrupted the Irish ladin his quizzical fashion.
"You soon will be, but I have been out with father before to-day andshot buffaloes: have you?"
"No; whin I goes out huntin' yer fither has't the proud distinction ofbein' taken along. Lucky for the buffaloes I niver took a notion to goout and kill siveral thousand: for that raison we find the drove outthere so innocent and confidin' that they don't know enough to be afeardof us."
"Maybe they have no cause to be."
"But they can't know that _I'm_ not goin' to shoot among them,--so whyshouldn't they be scared out of their siven sinses? Howsumiver, ye haveme permission to show the animals that ye are actin' under me own eyeand orders and it will be an incouragement to yersilf to know the same."
From what has been said, it will be understood that Fred Linden knewmuch more about buffaloes than did his companion. [The proper name is_bison_: the genuine buffalo is not found in America.] As he had said,this was not the first time he had hunted them, but with Terry Clark itwas different. He had spent a good deal of his time in the woods and hadgone in quest of wolves, bears and deer, but he had never brought downone of the lumbering animals for whose flesh he now yearned with ayearning that only the most ravening hunger can inspire.
Terry had formed a deep plot during the short conversation. He did notknow the best manner in which to shoot a buffalo and he was too proud toask instruction. He encouraged the scheme, therefore, of Fred making thefirst shot. That would give him a chance to see how it was done, sothat when he came to exhibit _his_ skill, he would make no mistake.
Although up to this time the animals had not shown that they cared astraw for the two beings who stood so near and were looking at them withloaded guns in their hands, yet they were liable to become stampeded atany moment. A snort and jump by a single animal were likely to set thewhole drove on a dead run, in which all hope of a breakfast on buffalosteaks would be gone for that morning at least.
So, as a matter of prudence, Terry stayed where he was, but partlysheltered himself, so as not to startle any one of the animals thatmight come upon him suddenly. At the same time, Fred bent low and withloaded and cocked rifle began stealing toward the nearest buffalo.
As it happened this was a cow in fine condition. She was plucking aribbon of grass that followed the edge of prairie. By some chemistry ofshadow and sunshine, there was this little strip of unusually tenderherbage, which the cow was eating in her quick, vigorous way, as thoughafraid that some of her companions would find and take it from her.
Fred singled out this one as his prize. Being so close to the wood, hecould not have wanted a better chance to steal up to her. Indeed he hadbut to stand still, for she was coming a regular half step at a time asshe clipped the grass in front of her; but the youth's hunger would notallow him to wait the few minutes that would have been required.
When within fifty feet of the cow, Fred knelt on one knee and broughthis rifle to a level. The cow was still advancing, "head on," when hemade a noise similar to that which comes natural to you when you wish todrive the hens out of your garden-patch. The cow stopped abruptly, threwup her head and stared at the hunter. The sight of the crouching figuremust have suggested to the stupid animal that every thing was not right,for with a frightened whiff, she bounded short around with the intentionof joining the other animals.
At the very moment she turned, Fred Linden fired, sending the bulletdirectly back of her fore leg, where it tore its way through flesh,muscles, bones and the heart, the battered bullet humming off throughthe air on the other side.
No shot could have been more effective. The cow made a couple of wildleaps and then lunged forward, her nose striking the earth with suchforce that her head doubled under her and she swung over on her back andside with a violence that made it seem as if she had fallen down a highprecipice.
Following his old rule, Fred loaded his gun where he stood, beforemoving out to examine his prize. It was at this juncture that a stampedeof the whole drove was due. Now that the boys had secured theirbreakfast they would not have cared had the animals thundered off out ofsight.
But the terror of the smitten creature was too brief to affect the rest,even though several were quite close to her at the time she gave thesnort and rolled over on the ground. A cow grazing near did raise herhead for a moment and look at her fallen friend as though she hardlyunderstood it. She seemed to meditate plunging into the rest of thedrove with head down and with tidings of the disaster, but she musthave concluded that since the other cow was dead, it wasn't worth whileto make any fuss over it; for she dropped her head and resumed hergrazing as though she had no further interest in the matter.
Even when Fred ran out, and, stooping down, began cutting a large slicefrom the shoulder of the victim, none of the others paid any attentionto him. Close
behind him came Terry, who was so desirous of examiningthe prize, that he postponed starting the fire.
"Terry, how will that do for a shot?" asked Fred, with some pride, as heplied his knife.
"Where did ye land the shot?"
"Right there, behind the fore leg; you can see the hole where itentered."
Terry turned his head to one side, closed an eye and surveyed it asthough he was measuring the height of a wall: then he shook his head.
"What's the matter with you?" asked the impatient Fred.
"Ye are a sixteenth of an inch too far forward, be the token of whichthe ball wint through the upper part of the heart: whin ye kill abuffalo coow ye should always sind the ball through the lower instead ofthe upper part of the heart. Ye surprise me so much that I am gravedwith ye, me own Fred."
The latter laughed.
"I suppose it would have done as well had I sent the bullet through herbrain; but that takes the finest kind of marksmanship."
"Av course, which explains why ye didn't dare attimpt it: whin we havefinished our dinner, supper and breakfast all in one, I'll step out onthe perarie, strike an impressive attitude and drop the biggest bull inthe drove, just to tach ye the gintaal way of doin' that same thing."
"Well, I shall be glad to learn the best style of bringing down thecreatures."
By this time, Fred had severed a piece of meat from the shoulder of thebuffalo. It weighed several pounds, but Terry broke in with thewondering inquiry:
"What are ye goin' to do with _that_?"
"That's for our dinner; what would you suppose?"
"I thought that was the part of the coow that ye were goin' to besinsible enough to lave behind while we built a fire around the rist andhad enough of a maal to stay the pangs of hunger."
Without waiting to hear the response of his companion, Terry ran amongthe trees and began gathering wood with which to start a blaze. Bothboys were such experts at this that only a brief time was necessary.Fred laid the buffalo steak on the leaves and took part, striking theflame with his own flint and tinder. There was no water within reach andthis was quite a deprivation, but the boys were hungry enough to waitfor that. From his scant store of mixed salt and sugar, Fred drew forthenough to season the enormous slice and it was speedily half broiled.
Two such hungry youngsters are not likely to be particular about theirdinner being done to a turn, and they were eager to eat it when it wasexceedingly rare. Leaving Terry to make known when it was ready for thepalate, Fred walked to the edge of the prairie to take a survey.
He could not forget that they had serious business before them, and,though he was warranted in believing that there was nothing to fear fromthe Winnebagos who had caused so much trouble, he was too wise to takeany thing for granted.
He saw the buffaloes cropping the grass with the same vigorouspersistency which they will show for hours, while the prairie, extendingfar to the right and left, failed to show any other living creature uponit. So far as he could tell, there was no cause for fear.