There was no meat at the cave, and everybody was hungry. So Bighorn said to the men, “Let’s hunt the bison to-day.”
The men crowded around, for they were always glad to go hunting with Bighorn. As soon as he had shown them his plan, they took their weapons and started toward the herd.
Bighorn expected to find the herd feeding quietly on a hillside. But, instead, the bison were tossing their horns, sniffing the air, and looking this way and that.
Bighorn saw that the bison were restless and that he could not take them by surprise. “We shall have a hard chase,” said he to the men, “if we get a bison to-day.”
The men stood still for a moment, for they did not know what to do. Fine snowflakes were now falling and the dark clouds threatened a heavy storm. But the men were hungry and they were not ready to give up the hunt at once.
“Listen!” said Bighorn, as a low rumbling sound came from the upper valley.
The Cave-men put their ears to the ground and heard a sound like distant thunder. As they listened it came nearer and nearer and the ground seemed to shake.
The Cave-men were not afraid. They knew what the sound meant. The bison, too, knew what it meant. They knew that winter was coming, and that it was time for them to be gone. They knew that the laggard herds were racing with the storm.
And so the sentinels of the scattered herds gave signals to the bison. And before the Cave-men were on their feet, the bison had started toward the ford.
Louder and louder the rumbling sound grew as the great herd galloped on. The snow was now falling thick and fast, and a cold northwest wind was blowing. But in spite of the wind and the snow, the Cave-men pressed on toward the ford. Bighorn still hoped to get a bison as the great herd passed.