On reaching the top of the last mound we halted, and a singular scene, which was not without some wild grandeur, was suddenly offered to our sight.
All the crests of the hills, as far as sight could extend, were crowned by the scouts sent ahead, and who, motionless as statues of Florentine bronze, stood out boldly in the blue sky.
These scouts were not seated in the saddle, but standing on it, holding in the left hand their buffalo robes, which they at times waved, and in their right their clubs, which they employed to indicate certain points of the horizon. At our feet, in an immense valley intersected by a large river, whose numerous capacious windings resembled a silver thread, a multitude of black spots spotted the tall grass.
These points, which were almost imperceptible owing to the great distance, were buffaloes: we had at last reached the hunting ground. But the day was too far advanced for us to dream of following the animals, and hence the chief gave the signal for camping.
The night was calm, and was spent like the previous ones, in outbursts of the frankest and heartiest gaiety, and at sunrise we were all up and ready to begin the hunt. The scouts were still at their posts, and it might fairly be supposed that during the whole night they had not ceased to watch the game.
Eagle-head got on the back of his horse, and fired a musket loaded only with powder, in order to attract the attention of the scouts. Then a singular scene took place, which offered me much to think about, and proved to me once again that the Redskins are neither so savage nor unintelligent as some writers are pleased to represent them.
By the aid of the buffalo robe he held in his hand and waved in every direction, the sachem began a series of complicated signals, which would have turned the most expert of our telegraphers pale if called upon to interpret, for they were transmitted with headlong speed, and instantly comprehended by the sachem and the scouts.
Eagle-head, according to the information he received, sent off every moment parties of hunters, for the purpose, as I afterwards learned, of completely surrounding the buffaloes, and driving them to the middle of the valley. The hunters picked out started at once at full speed, galloping in a beeline, according to the Indian fashion, leaping over all obstacles, and never deviating from the direct course.
Ere long only ten hunters, among whom my companions and myself were, remained with the chief. He gave a final signal, which was immediately repeated by all the sentries, got into his saddle, and uttered his war yell. He then dashed at full speed down into the plain, with the rapidity of an avalanche, and this manoeuvre was imitated by the other hunters scattered over the adjacent heights. The hunt, or more correctly, the butchery, had begun.
The Comanches possess such skill in this horse-hunting, that, in spite of the difficulty in killing a buffalo, they rarely fire more than one round at it. Singularly enough, they do not raise the gun to the shoulder, but stretch out both arms, and fire, in this far from usual posture, when they are some fifteen or twenty yards from the animal.