Page:The red book of animal stories.djvu/389

 Armed only with a bow and five or six arrows, or else with long lances, they mount their strong and swift little horses, and dash off at full speed to the grazing ground of the buffaloes.

As the hunters draw near the herd they divide into two parties, so as to surround the animals completely. If the buffaloes were to form in line and charge the enemy their great strength and bulk might tell, and they would stand a good chance of getting through. But, instead,



HUNTING THE BISON

they lose their heads and are thrown into confusion; they tumble over each other, and cannot get up again, and the Indians close in, and, galloping past, plunge the lance or aim the arrow straight at the heart, and the buffalo falls dead where he stands.

If the Indian is hunting alone he carefully chooses some large fat bull, and manages to separate him from the rest by heading him off in the opposite direction. The horse knows quite well what its master wants, and when the buffalo is well away, gallops close to it on the right