Part 30 (1/2)

”If I can,” he added a fewchase

How long it lasted he could not tell, nor how far they went All he kneas that after a long ride the bull nearly reached the led with them, Bart felt that he must lose him

But this did not prove to be the case, for Black Boy had had too good a training with cattle-driving He had been a bit astonished at the shaggy hair about the bison's front, but it did not trouble hi called upon by spur or blow, no sooner did the bison plunge into the ranks of his fellows as they thundered on, than the gallant little horse made three or four bounds, and rushed close up to his haunch, touching him and the bison on his left, with the result that both of the shaggyway so that Bart was carried right in between theested, there was one moment when he could literally have kicked the animals on either side of his little horse

That only lasted for a e aith the result that the opening greider and wider, while, reh of his lesson, Bart kept close to the bull's flank, Black Boy never flinching for ahunter found hi at full speed beside his shaggy quarry, the rest of the herd having left hi,short rushes at horse and rider, but they were of so cluain in the most pertinacious e was ended

All at once Bart re else to be done, and that he was not to go on riding beside the bison, but to try and shoot it

Easier said than done, going at full gallop, but he brought his rifle to bear, and tried to get a good aim, but could not; for it seemed as if the muzzle were either jerked up towards the sky or depressed towards the ground

He tried again and again, but could nothis steed a little, he allowed the bison to get a few yards ahead, and then galloped forward till he ell on the right side, where he could rest the rifle upon his horse's withers, and, waiting his tiht have been fired into the earth for all the effect it had, save to produce an angry charge, and it was the same with a couple , the poor brute suddenly stood still, panting heavily, hed up the ground with its right horn, and then shi+vered and fell over upon its flank--dead

Bart leaped fro to the bison, juy shoulder, took off his cap, waved it above his head, and uttered a loud cheer

Then he looked round for some one to echo his cry, and he saidespread stretch of undulating prairie land, with sorass there, and beneath his feet the huge game beast that he had fairly run down and shot, while close beside hi run by rass

And that was all

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

ALONE IN THE PLAINS

Where were the hundreds of buffalo that had been thundering over the plain?

Where was Joses?

Where were the Indians?

These were the questions Bart asked as he gazed round hiallop was over now, and, though they wanted meat so badly, he felt half sorry that he had shot the poor beast that lay stiffening by his side for he had leaped down, and had, as if by instinct, taken hold of Black Boy's rein, lest he should suddenly take it into his head to gallop off and leave his master in the solitude by hi novel and strange in the sensation of being the only hu in that vast circle whose circumference was the horizon, seen fro, and Bart wondered why he could not see either hunters or buffaloes

Lastly, it began to be painful, and to be led with a curious sensation of dread He realised that he was alone in that vast plain-- that he had galloped on for a long while without noticing in which direction he had gone, and then, half-stunned and wondering as he fully realised the fact that he was lost, he

He did not thinkin his head for a ti rush of thought--as to become of him if he were left here like this--alone--without a friend--hopeless of being found?

This wild race of fancies was horrible while it endured, and Bart pressed the cold barrel of his rifle to his forehead in the hope of finding relief, but it gave none

The relief caether, laughing at his oardice, and ridiculing his fears