"It is good. I see that Kicking Bull is here," said White Otter.
"If you watch him you may see something to talk about," replied Sun Bird.
"Look, my brothers, something has happened!" cried Little Raven.
The scouts who had been looking over the crest of the ridge were gesticulating excitedly, and calling to the hunters. They said that the buffaloes had discovered Curly Horse and his warriors, and were already fleeing across the plain.
"That is bad. But come, my brothers, we must go after them," shouted Rain Crow, as he raced his pony to the top of the ridge, and the others urged their horses after him.
Then the hunt began. As Rain Crow and his companions swept over the ridge they saw the buffaloes thundering away in a stifling smother of dust, pursued on both flanks by long lines of whooping horsemen. The latter were riding furiously in an endeavor to get far enough ahead to turn the animals at the front of the herd.
"Come, we must ride fast!" cried White Otter, as he galloped away from his friends.
Sun Bird and Little Raven raced after him, with the other riders close behind them. Yelling excitedly, the Sioux urged their ponies to top speed, and for the moment the hunt became a mad break-neck scramble across the rocky plain. A false step on the part of a pony meant severe injury or death for itself and its rider, but the nimble little beasts kept their feet and soon overtook the clumsy animals ahead of them. Once within arrow-range, Rain Crow and his warriors began a furious attack upon the rear of the herd, while Curly Horse and Laughing Bird closed in on them from the sides.
White Otter soon found that his confidence in the pony which he had taken from the Kiowas was well placed. He had no difficulty in keeping up with the fastest animals in the company, and he believed that the buckskin had still greater speed in reserve. When the buffaloes were overtaken, the Kiowa pony quickly proved that it was familiar with every detail of the exciting sport. It seemed to know exactly which animal the rider wished to attack. Having maneuvered to a favorable position, it would run beside the doomed buffalo until the twang of the bow-string gave warning that the fatal arrow had sped to its mark; then the clever little beast would instantly swerve aside to avoid the death lunge of the animal it had helped to kill.
"That is a very fast pony," said Sun Bird.