"Putty much, an' it's a great shame, too, fer they were fine game. But them sports used ter come out west an' kill 'em off by the score, worse luck! Didn't want 'em fer nuthin' either!" And Watson shook his head sorrowfully.

"Were you ever caught in a buffalo stampede, Ike?"

"Onct, Allen, onct, an' it's an experience I'll never fergit as long as I live."

"I should like to hear the particulars."

"Thet ain't really much ter tell, Allen. I wuz out on Crazy Tom Mountain at the time. Reckon ye know the place."

"Fairly well."

"Well, it wuz while the buffalo had been over to the Fork. Grazin' wuzn't very good thet season an' the critters wuz rather ugly in consequence."

"Yes, I've heard they get bad when their feed is cut short."

"As I wuz sayin', I wuz up alongside o' Crazy Tom Mountain, looking fer b'ar, an' I had jes' struck a fine trail when I heered a curious sound on the tudder side o' the hill. I couldn't make it out nohow at fust, but byme-by I thought it must be buffalo, an' I wuz right."

"Did they come right down on you?"