He knew what caves were, for on the buffalo range in the National Park were some of these holes in the ground, where the big animals went in to stay during the cold winter.
“Well, I’d better try to get out of here,” thought Shaggo. He wished he might have some of his buffalo friends to whom to talk, but that was out of the question. And Shaggo did not wish them the bad luck of wanting them to be with him in his trouble. Yet, all the same, he would have been glad to have seen even Rumpo and Bumpo now at their game of bumping one another. But Shaggo, in a fit of temper, had run off by himself, and now he must get out of his trouble as best he could.
“And I surely am in trouble,” thought poor Shaggo. “Oh, wow! What a pain!”
He moved about a little in the darkness, and then he had to stand still, for his leg hurt him so much. But Shaggo knew he could not stay in the place into which he had fallen. The more he thought about it the more he felt sure he had fallen into a pit.
“But I must see what sort of a place it is into which I have fallen,” thought the mighty buffalo. His eyes were getting used to the darkness now, and he could see a little. He noticed that he was down in a sort of big hole. The bottom and sides were of earth, and Shaggo dug his hoofs in as he had done on the soft prairie.
Slowly Shaggo walked around the pit. In most places the sides were too steep for him to climb up. They were like the sides of a well, straight up and down. But in one place there was a slope like that of a hill, only it was a very steep hill.
“Now if there were only some rocks, like steps, in this hill I might get up,” thought Shaggo. “I wonder if I could dig some steps with my horns. I’ll try it.”
There was a little more light on this side of the cave, and Shaggo could see to try to get up. He lowered his shaggy head, and with his short, strong horns, dug out a little of the soft earth, hoping to make some steps for himself. But as he moved his head from side to side, to use his horns, the pain in his hurt shoulder was so sharp that again he cried:
“Ouch!”
“This will never do!” said Shaggo to himself, as he stopped trying to dig the steps. “I’ll never be able to get out this way. I must find another path.”