Jack Among the Indians; Or, A Boy's Summer on the Buffalo Plains

by George Bird Grinnell

"Well," said Jack, "I can't think of any better fun than to do just that." After a minute he went on, "You've killed buffalo, Joe?"

"Yes," said Joe, "a few, not many. I haven't got a good running horse, and so I never killed many chasing them. It takes a pretty good horse to catch a cow. You've got two."

"Well," said Jack, "I'll tell you what I'll do, the first chase we have, I'll let you ride my new horse, and I'll ride Pawnee; then maybe we'll both have good luck."

"That'll be good," said Joe. "Suppose I ride that new horse, I'm pretty sure to have good luck."

"Look here, son," broke in Hugh, who had been sitting near them, "you'll want to have a lesson in buffalo running before you try it the first time. There's some things that a greenhorn has got to be told. Now, when you start to chase buffalo, you must ride right up close to the animal you are trying to kill. You'll never kill any buffalo if you are afraid of them. Ride right up within two or three yards of a cow, and when you are about even with her hips, shoot at her, and try to hit her in the heart. You must remember what I've told you so many times, that you have got to shoot low down to kill any animal, but at a buffalo, with its big hump, you've got to shoot lower down than most anything else. That's the great trouble most men have when they hunt buffalo the first time, they shoot too high, and the ball goes through the meat and don't hurt the buffalo a bit. If you'll remember those two things, to get up close, and to shoot low down, you won't have any trouble about killing your buffalo."

The next morning when Jack looked out of the lodge, a great change had come over the camp. Many places, where lodges had stood the night before, were now vacant. In other places only the conical frame work of poles was seen, and in others the women were just pulling away the lodge skins, or in some cases were standing on a travois which leaned against the lodge, and were unpinning its front. The camp was full of horses, many of them tied to pins or bundles of baggage, or to travois, but many others were roaming loose through the circle. Jack had never before seen all the horses of the camp gathered together, and was astonished at their numbers. All about the circle were piles of robes, bundles, saddles, cooking utensils, and other property which the women were gathering together, tying up, packing on the horses, or loading on the travois.

The scene was one of great activity, and the work that was being done was not conducted in silence. There were colts that had lost their mothers and were screaming shrilly, and mares were neighing for their missing colts. The camp dogs were in a state of high excitement, and were barking or howling, or got in people's way, and when kicked out of it, yelped dolefully. The little boys, who swarmed through the circle, were shouting, whooping, running races and wrestling. The women, worried by the labour of packing and of looking after their children and their horses, called to each other with high pitched voices, and many of the babies missing their mother's attention, added their cries to the babel which prevailed.

Jack watched the scene for a little while, and then going back into the lodge, said, "Well, Hugh, I never expected to hear so much noise in this camp as there is this morning. Will they ever quiet down again? This isn't very much like the camp we have been in for the last three weeks."

"No," said Hugh, "the first day that camp is broken after a long stop in any one place, they make quite a racket. You'll see, though, that when they move to-morrow, things will go a good deal more smoothly. Now, as soon as we've finished eating," he went on, "let's catch up our horses and pack them, and tie them up here with old John's. Then I'm going on ahead with the old men, and if you want to, you can stop here as long as you like; only, if I were you, I wouldn't wander away from the column very much. You see, now we are going out on to the prairie, where there is more danger of meeting enemies, and I wouldn't go off alone at all. Get Joe to go with you, or go with some little party of two or three men, or ask me and I'll ride with you wherever you want me to."

"All right," said Jack, "I'll remember. I've seen enemies enough for a little while, and I don't want to run onto any more of 'em."