SPORT had been the final cause of my trip to America - sportand the love of adventure. As the bison - buffalo1, as theyare called - are now extinct, except in preserved districts,a few words about them as they then were may interest gamehunters of the present day.
No description could convey an adequate conception of thenumbers in which they congregated2. The admirableillustrations in Catlin's great work on the North AmericanIndians, afford the best idea to those who have never seenthe wonderful sight itself. The districts they frequentedwere vast sandy uplands sparsely3 covered with the tuftybuffalo or gramma grass. These regions were always withinreach of the water-courses; to which morning and evening theherds descended5 by paths, after the manner of sheep or cattlein a pasture. Never shall I forget the first time Iwitnessed the extraordinary event of the evening drink.
Seeing the black masses galloping6 down towards the river, bythe banks of which our party were travelling, we halted somehundred yards short of the tracks. To have been caughtamongst the animals would have been destruction; for, do whatthey would to get out of one's way, the weight of thethousands pushing on would have crushed anything that impededthem. On the occasion I refer to we approached to withinsafe distance, and fired into them till the ammunition7 in ourpouches was expended8.
As examples of our sporting exploits, three days taken almostat random9 will suffice. The season was so far advanced that,unless we were to winter at Fort Laramie, it was necessary tokeep going. It was therefore agreed that whoever left theline of march - that is, the vicinity of the North Platte -for the purpose of hunting should take his chance of catchingup the rest of the party, who were to push on as speedily aspossible. On two of the days which I am about to record thisrule nearly brought me into trouble. I quote from myjournal:
'Left camp to hunt by self. Got a shot at some deer lying inlong grass on banks of a stream. While stalking, I couldhardly see or breathe for mosquitos; they were in my eyes,nose, and mouth. Steady aim was impossible; and, to mydisgust, I missed the easiest of shots. The neck and flanksof my little grey are as red as if painted. He is weak fromloss of blood. Fred's head is now so swollen10 he cannot wearhis hard hat; his eyes are bunged up, and his face is comicto look at. Several deer and antelopes11; but ground toolevel, and game too wild to let one near. Hardly caring whatdirection I took, followed outskirts12 of large wood, four orfive miles away from the river. Saw a good many summerlodges; but knew, by the quantity of game, that the Indianshad deserted13 them. In the afternoon came suddenly upon deer;and singling out one of the youngest fawns14, tried to run itdown. The country being very rough, I found it hard work tokeep between it and the wood. First, my hat blew off; then apistol jumped out of the holster; but I was too near to giveup, - meaning to return for these things afterwards. Two orthree times I ran right over the fawn15, which bleated16 in themost piteous manner, but always escaped the death-blow fromthe grey's hoofs17. By degrees we edged nearer to the thicket,when the fawn darted18 down the side of a bluff19, and was lostin the long grass and brushwood, I followed at full speed;but, unable to arrest the impetus20 of the horse, we dashedheadlong into the thick scrub, and were both thrown withviolence to the ground. I was none the worse; but the poorbeast had badly hurt his shoulder, and for the time was deadlame.
'For an hour at least I hunted, for my pistol. It was muchmore to me than my hat. It was a huge horse pistol, thatthrew an ounce ball of exactly the calibre of my doublerifle. I had shot several buffaloes21 with it, by riding closeto them in a chase; and when in danger of Indians I loaded itwith slugs. At last I found it. It was getting late; and Ididn't rightly know where I was. I made for the low country.
But as we camped last night at least two miles from theriver, on account of the swamps, the difficulty was to findthe tracks. The poor little grey and I hunted for it invain. The wet ground was too wet, the dry ground too hard,to show the tracks in the now imperfect light.
'The situation was a disagreeable one: it might be two orthree days before I again fell in with my friends. I had nottouched food since the early morning, and was rather done.
To return to the high ground was to give up for the night;but that meant another day behind the cavalcade22, withdiminished chance of overtaking it. Through the dusk I sawwhat I fancied was something moving on a mound23 ahead of mewhich arose out of the surrounding swamp. I spurred on, butonly to find the putrid24 carcase of a buffalo, with a wolfsupping on it. The brute25 was gorged26, and looked as sleek27 as"die schone Frau Giermund"; but, unlike Isegrim's spouse28, shewas free to escape, for she wasn't worth a bullet. I was sofamished, that I examined the carcase with the hope offinding a cut that would last for a day or two; my nosewouldn't have it. I plodded29 on, the water up to the saddle-girths. The mosquitos swarmed30 in millions, and the poorlittle grey could hardly get one leg before the other. I,too, was so feverish31 that, ignorant of bacteria, I filled myround hat with the filthy32 stagnant33 water, and drank it at adraught.
'At last I made for higher ground. It was too dark to huntfor tracks, so I began to look out for a level bed. Suddenlymy beast, who jogged along with his nose to the ground, gavea loud neigh. We had struck the trail. I threw the reins34 onhis neck, and left matters to his superior instincts. Inless than half an hour the joyful35 light of a camp firegladdened my eyes. Fred told me he had halted as soon as hewas able, not on my account only, but because he, too, hadhad a severe fall, and was suffering great pain from abruised knee.'
Here is an ordinary example of buffalo shooting:
'JULY 2ND. - Fresh meat much wanted. With Jim the half-breedto the hills. No sooner on high ground than we sighted game.
As far as eye could reach, right away to the horizon, theplain was black with buffaloes, a truly astonishing sight.
Jim was used to it. I stopped to spy them with amazement36.
The nearest were not more than half a mile off, so wepicketed our horses under the sky line; and choosing thehollows, walked on till crawling became expedient37. As istheir wont38, the outsiders were posted on bluffs39 or knolls40 ina commanding position; these were old bulls. To myinexperience, our chance of getting a shot seemed small; forwe had to cross the dipping ground under the brow whereon thesentinels were lying. Three extra difficulties beset42 us -the prairie dogs (a marmot, so called from its dog-like barkwhen disturbed) were all round us, and bolted into theirholes like rabbits directly they saw us coming; two big greywolves, the regular camp followers43 of a herd4, were prowlingabout in a direct line between us and the bulls; lastly, thecows, though up and feeding, were inconveniently44 out ofreach. (The meat of the young cow is much preferred to thatof the bull.) Jim, however, was confident. I followed myleader to a wink45. The only instruction I didn't like when westarted crawling on the hot sand was "Look out forrattlesnakes."'The wolves stopped, examined us suspiciously, then quietlytrotted off. What with this and the alarm of the prairiedogs, an old bull, a patriarch of the tribe, jumped up andwalked with majestic47 paces to the top of the knoll41. We layflat on our faces, till he, satisfied with the result of hisscrutiny, resumed his recumbent posture48; but with his headturned straight towards us. Jim, to my surprise, stealthilycrawled on. In another minute or two we had gained a pointwhence we could see through the grass without being seen.
Here we rested to recover breath. Meanwhile, three or fouryoung cows fed to within sixty or seventy yards of us.
Unluckily we both selected the same animal, and both fired atthe same moment. Off went the lot helter skelter, all savethe old bull, who roared out his rage and trotted46 up close toour hiding place.
'"Look out for a bolt," whispered Jim, "but don't showyourself nohow till I tell you."'For a minute or two the suspense49 was exciting. One hardlydared to breathe. But his majesty50 saw us not, and turnedagain to his wives. We instantly reloaded; and the startledherd, which had only moved a few yards, gave us the chance ofa second shot. The first cow had fallen dead almost whereshe stood. The second we found at the foot of the hill, alsowith two bullet wounds behind the shoulder. The tongues,humps, and tender loins, with some other choice morsels51, weresoon cut off and packed, and we returned to camp with a grandsupply of beef for Jacob's larder52.
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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antelopes
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| 羚羊( antelope的名词复数 )； 羚羊皮革 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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fawns
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| n.（未满一岁的）幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 )；浅黄褐色；乞怜者；奉承者v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 )；巴结；讨好 | |
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fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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bleated
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的过去式和过去分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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gorged
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| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 )；作呕 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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inconveniently
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| ad.不方便地 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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morsels
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| n.一口( morsel的名词复数 )；（尤指食物）小块，碎屑 | |
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larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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