How bright is the moonlight!
How bright is the moonlight!
Tonight as I ride with my load of buffalo beef,
Tonight as I ride with my load of buffalo beef.
The author of this song, on meeting his friends in the spirit world, found them preparing to go on a great buffalo hunt, the prairies of the new earth being covered with the countless thousands of buffalo that have been swept from the plains since the advent of the white man. They returned to camp at night, under the full moonlight, with their ponies loaded down with fresh beef. There is something peculiarly touching in this dream of the old life—this Indian heaven where—
“In meadows wet with moistening dews,
In garments for the chase arrayed,
The hunter still the deer pursues—
The hunter and the deer a shade.”