But the latter had seen this sort of business before, and was prepared for it.
Without attempting to turn to the one side or the other, or to check his speed in the least, he made a terrific flying leap upward, going clear over the head of the buffalo, landing upon the other side, and continuing his flight at his leisure, as it may be said.
This was a clever trick of the mustang, but it proved the undoing4 of his rider, who had no other saddle than the Indian blanket strapped5 to the horse's back. This was good enough, except in such a sudden emergency as the present, when Ned was entirely6 unprepared for it. It was done in a twinkling, the end of it being that he found himself lying upon the green sward of the prairie, considerably7 bruised8, and with horse and buffalo rapidly speeding from view.
"This is a go," said the lad, rising to his feet and looking about him. "I don't see where the fun of buffalo hunting comes in."
During the minutes of excitement when the mustang was coursing with such speed over the prairie, the rider had no idea of the direction taken, nor could he conjecture9 how far he had gone; but the result was that he was separated by a much greater distance than he supposed from his friends. Ned stood and gazed carefully about him. Off to the west were the dust, and thousands upon thousands of buffaloes10. The latter were too far removed to be distinguished11, but that tramping and the heavy cloud indicated where the mass of life was plunging tumultuously forward toward some destination unknown even to themselves. Nothing was to be seen of the hunters. They had sent the lad off on this hunt on purpose to give him a taste of buffalo hunting, not supposing, of course, that any accident would result.
"What shall I do?" was the question the boy asked himself, as he stood, rifle in hand, and looked around him. "If there was some way in which I could get a good supper, I wouldn't mind this camping out, for Tom and Dick will be sure to find me in the morning."
Looking toward the north, he fancied that he dimly discerned the dark outline of something which resembled a grove12 of trees, and he turned his footsteps in that direction.
"If they are trees," he reflected, as he trudged13 along, "it's more than likely there's water there, and now that I've got a gun, I've some chance of shooting something; and that reminds me of poor Corporal Hugg's warning, always to reload my gun the first thing after firing it."
He had enough sense to carry out this resolution on the spot, and then he resumed his journey in the direction of the object that had attracted his attention. A short distance further he was pleased to find his first impression correct. He was approaching a clump14 of trees where he could rest with a much greater sense of security than upon the open prairie. Thoroughly15 weary and worn out, faint with hunger, he felt like throwing himself upon the ground and sleeping for a week. But, continuing, he entered a grove of trees something like a hundred yards in extent, through which, in the stillness of the night, he caught distinctly the ripple16 of flowing water. It required but a moment to discover this and he lay down upon the margin17, quaffed18 his full and flung himself upon the grass to sleep until morning. Five minutes after his eyes were shut he was wrapped in a sound slumber19 which remained undisturbed until morning when, as he opened his eyes, he found the sun shining through the branches upon him.
"Gracious!" he exclaimed, starting up. "Where am I?"
It took several minutes before he could collect his senses and tell where he was; and then as he recalled the separation from his friends, he hurried out to the edge of the wood in the hope of discovering them somewhere near at hand; but, look in whatsoever20 direction he chose, nothing was to be seen but the broad sweeping21 prairie, stretching away until sky and earth joined in the distance. Far off, low down in the horizon, the blue
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