“But will they come this way; and ought we saddle up so as to be ready to make a run for it?” Roger continued; not because he was timid, but that the sight of that endless, heaving mass of moving animals had impressed him strongly.
“Yes, I think we should,” Dick replied. “If the storm comes along after them, and starts a stampede, as they call it, we would stand in danger of being trampled under ten thousand hoofs. No one could ever tell what had become of us. So let’s roll up our blankets, and get the horses; quick, Roger, because they’re heading in our direction, and coming right along.”
Indeed, even as they brought the snorting horses in, and started to fasten the loads on their backs, the rumble had increased to a steady roar, so that it seemed to Roger he could actually feel the ground vibrate under the pounding of those myriad of hoofs, as the heavy animals galloped toward the river.
Whenever the lightning flashed, and this was more frequently than before, with peals of thunder following, both boys found themselves compelled to shoot quick glances of both curiosity and alarm toward the advancing peril. And what they saw was a sight never to be forgotten.
It was like the border of a troubled sea, that tremendous line of moving animal life, heaving and tossing, and coming steadily on like a dust cloud impelled by the wind. As yet they could not distinguish the units comprising this immense whole; but it was easy to imagine them, for both boys had shot buffaloes before now, and knew what they were like, though they had never looked upon a herd of more than half a dozen at a time.
“Oh! there must be millions in that lot!” cried Roger, when a particularly vivid flash came, that showed them the whole level stretch covered with the advancing horde as far as their eyes could reach.
“Too many for us to stay here, and try to divide!” Dick answered.
“How lucky that you noticed where the trees grew along the river,” said Roger; “because that will be our best chance, don’t you think, Dick?”
“Yes, and the sooner we’re off the better,” was the other’s answer.
He knew that their horses must still be tired from the long journey of the day before, and, laden as they were, might not be able to run as swiftly as under other conditions. Just how fast that avalanche of shaggy forms could advance he had no means of knowing. If further frightened by the flash of lightning, and the crash of thunder, a stampede of the herd would mean that the bison would come on the full gallop, madly seeking to find shelter from the howling blast.