I immediately turned in my tracks, ran towards my powder and balls-- which, in my eagerness to escape, I had forgotten all about--seized the horn and pouch, poured in a charge, rammed down a bullet, and then stealing nimbly up behind the still struggling bull, I placed the muzzle within three feet of his brisket, and fired. He gave a death-kick or two, and then lay quiet: it was all over with him. I had the tongue from between his teeth in a twinkling; and proceeding to the other bull, I finished the operations I had commenced upon him. I was too tired to think of carrying a very heavy load; so I contented myself with the tongues, and slinging these over the barrel of my rifle, I shouldered it, and set out to grope my way back to camp. The moon had risen, and I had no difficulty in following my own trail; but before I had got half-way, I met several of my companions shouting, and at intervals firing off their guns. My horse had got back a little before sunset. His appearance had, of course, produced alarm, and the camp had turned out in search of me. Several who had a relish for fresh meat galloped back to strip the two bulls of the remaining tit-bits; but before midnight all had returned; and to the accompaniment of the hump-ribs spurting in the cheerful blaze, I recounted the details of my adventure. CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. THE BISON. The bison--universally, though improperly, called buffalo--is, perhaps, the most interesting animal in America. Its great size and strength-- the prodigious numbers in which it is found--its peculiar _habitat_--the value of its flesh and hide to the traveller, as well as to the many tribes of Indians--the mode of its chase and capture--all these circumstances render the buffalo an interesting and highly-prized animal. Besides, it is the largest ruminant indigenous to America, exceeding in weight even the moose-deer, which latter, however, equals it in height. With the exception of the musk-ox, it is the only indigenous animal of the bovine tribe, but the latter being confined to a very limited range, near the Arctic Sea, has been less subject to the observation and attention of the civilised world. The buffalo, therefore, may be regarded as the representative of the ox in America.