And so, a little later when Shaggo suddenly saw one end of the trap open and noticed, just beyond it, a pail of water, the buffalo rushed forward to get a drink. He could smell the water and knew it was good.
“Ha! He’s doing just what we wanted him to,” said one of the men, though of course Shaggo did not know what they were saying, as he only understood animal talk.
“Yes, he’s going into the smaller cage. Now we can put him on a wagon and ship him off to some circus. Then we’ll get our money,” went on another man.
What they had done was this. They had made a cage of strong wood with a single door to it. This cage had been placed near the trap, and a pail of water was set inside the cage. Then the trap door was opened so Shaggo could walk out into the cage to get a drink.
And the buffalo had done that. He did not know he was walking from the trap into a traveling cage, but that is what he had done. All he thought of was the drink, just as all he had thought of, before, had been the salt.
So Shaggo walked into the cage and, while he was drinking, the door was shut behind him.
“Now we can easily handle him,” said one of the men. “We shall have no more trouble with this buffalo.”
Poor Shaggo looked about him. He was in a much smaller place than he had ever been in before. The cage, which was made of strong branches of trees, was just large enough for him to turn around, but not to run or jump.
“I thought I was cramped, and had no room on the range in the Park,” said Shaggo to himself, as he looked at the narrow cage. “But I had a thousand times as much room there as I have here. I guess I was foolish to jump over that fence. All I have gotten out of it, so far, is a sprained shoulder and some salt. I could have got the salt by staying at home. As for the sore shoulder, I don’t want that at all. It hurts too much, and it seems to be growing bigger. I wonder why that is?”
But Shaggo had no time to wonder much about himself. He was too anxious over what the men were going to do. He could easily see them through the wooden bars of his cage, but he could not reach them with his hoofs or his horns. Perhaps it is a good thing he could not, for he might have tried to trample on them, or knock them down.