Very Soon A Long Dark Mass Became Visible, Looming Through
The Dust; Then I Could Distinguish Each Bulky Carcass, The Hoofs
Flying Out Beneath, The Short Tails Held Rigidly Erect.
In a moment
I was so close that I could have touched them with my gun.
Suddenly,
to my utter amazement, the hoofs were jerked upward, the tails
flourished in the air, and amid a cloud of dust the buffalo seemed to
sink into the earth before me. One vivid impression of that instant
remains upon my mind. I remember looking down upon the backs of
several buffalo dimly visible through the dust. We had run unawares
upon a ravine. At that moment I was not the most accurate judge of
depth and width, but when I passed it on my return, I found it about
twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at the bottom. It was
impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I could; so, half
sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare. I believe she
came down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was pitched
forward violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head
among the buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all
around. The mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a
cat up the opposite side. I thought for a moment that she would have
fallen back and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered
out and gained the hard prairie above.
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