"We had come upon a big herd, and was chasing them. I had singled out an old bull, and had pushed right into the herd after him; Rube, he was pretty close to me. Well, I came up to the bull, and put a rifle-ball between his ribs. The herd had rather separated as we got amongst them, making way for us right and left as we rode after the bull. As he fell we reined in our horses, and looked round. Not a Cheyenne was to be seen: five minutes afore they had been hanging on the herd, sending their arrows in up to the feather among the buffalo; now not a soul was to be seen. You may guess this staggered me and I says to Rube, 'Look out, Rube, there's something up, as sure as fate.'
"Well, I had scarcely spoken afore I saw a big party of Injins come charging down across our rear. 'Utes,' says I, 'by thunder! They are after the Cheyennes! Fling yourself flat on your horse, Rube, and get into the herd.'
"The buffalo war only fifty yards away yet, and yer may be sure we spurred up pretty sharp till we got up to them. I seed at once it was our only chance. Our horses war blowed, for we had had a sharp chase afore we caught the herd, and there was no chance of our getting away from the Utes in the open plains. We soon caught up the herd, and charged in among them. The brutes were packed so close together that they could hardly make room for us; but we managed to wedge ourselves in. Those next to us snuffed and roared, but they war too pressed by those behind to do much; but by shouting and waving our hats we managed to keep a clear space three or four yards on either side of us. All this time we war lying down on our horses' necks, and there war no fear that any one would see us in the midst of that sea of tossing cattle; but I war afraid they would have caught sight of us afore we got among 'em. I cussed myself for having fired that last shot; they must have heard it, and would have known that some of us hadn't seen them coming, and must be somewhere among the herd.
"I raised my head a little at last, and took a look round. Sure enough, there was a dozen Utes coming up behind the herd. I puts spurs again into my horse, and, catching up an old bull in front of me, progged him with my bowie-knife, and Rube did the same to the beast next to him. They gave a roar and plunged on ahead through the mass, and we followed close to their heels. It was tight work, I can tell you, for the buffaloes on both sides war touching one another. We kept going about half a length behind the beasts next to us, so that the horses' shoulders war just behind the shoulders of the buffaloes; as you know, the buffaloes have got no necks to speak of, and so, although they gave savage thrusts with their horns, they couldn't get at the horses. Our beasts were frightened near out of their lives, but they war well broken, and we managed to keep 'em in hand.
"The thing I was most afraid of was that they would be knocked off their legs, and in that case we should be trampled to death in a minute. As I leaned forward I kept one hand fixed on the neck of the buffalo next me, and I shouted to Rube to do the same, so as we could make a shift to jump on to the buffalo's back if our horses fell; but, I tell you, I was beginning to fear that we shouldn't see any way out of it. What with us in the middle, and the Utes yelling behind them, the herd war fairly mad with fright; and there war no saying where they would go to, for, you know, a herd of buffaloes, when fairly stampeded, will go clean over a precipice a hundred yards high, and pile themselves up dead at the foot till there is not one left. It war a bad fix, you bet, for I war sure that the Utes war after us, and not after the buffaloes, for they kept on, though they could soon have killed as many of the herd as they wanted. It was may be four in the afternoon when the chase commenced, and so it went on till it was dark. The buffaloes war going nigh as fast as when we started, but the horses could scarce keep their legs; I was sure they couldn't run much longer, so I says to Rube, 'We must get out of this, or else we shall be done for.'
"So we sets to work a-probing the buffalo with our knives again. They started on ahead as hard as they could, bursting a way through the crowd. We followed close behind them, keeping up the scare until we finds ourselves in front of the herd; then we spurred our horses on, and dashed out in front. Done as the horses were, they knew they had got to go, for, with the herd coming like thunder upon their heels, it was death to stop. We swerved away to the right, but it took us half an hour afore we war clear of the front of the herd. We went a few hundred yards further, and then drew rein.
"Rube's horse fell dead as he stopped, and mine wasn't worth much more. For half an hour we could hear the herd rushing along, and then it had passed. We had got out of our biggest fix, but it warn't a pleasant position.
"There we war out on the plains, with only one horse between us, and he so done up that he couldn't put one foot afore the other.
"Where the Cheyennes war there was no saying; the band might have been wiped out by the Utes, or they might have got away. At any rate there was no counting on them. The Utes who had followed the herd would be sure to be on our trail in the morning; they would follow all night, or as long as the herd ran. When the buffalo war fairly tired out they would lay down, and the Utes would see then as we warn't there. Then they would set out upon the back-trail, skirting along each side of the line trampled by the herd until they came upon our trail; the dead horse was a sign as they could see a mile away, so it was clear that we must foot it as soon as we could. We gave the horse an hour's rest; and it did us as much good as him, for I can tell you we war pretty well used up. We drove him afore us until, after six hours' walking, we came to a stream. We went up this for an hour, then we both filled our hunting-shirts with stones and fastened them on the horse, and then drove him off."
"What did you put the stones on his back for?" Frank asked.