CHAPTER VISHAGGO ON A TRAIN
The men who had been watching Shaggo from afar for many days had, at last, caught the mighty buffalo in a trap. They had seen him wandering about the prairies and in the forest, and had made up their minds to try to catch him.
“But that must be a buffalo from one of the Government Parks,” one of the men had said. “There are no wild buffaloes roaming about now. They are all on preserves, and belong to the Government or to private owners.”
“That doesn’t make any difference to us,” said the rest of the men. “This buffalo is loose, and, if we can catch him, he’s ours.”
“But what can you do with him?” asked the man who had first objected. “If the Government finds that you have him they’ll take him away from you.”
“Nobody will find out,” declared the other men, who did not seem to care how wrongfully they acted. “We’ll catch this lone, big buffalo in a trap, and sell him to a circus or some zoo. Then we’ll get a lot of money.”
“I’m not going to have anything to do with it,” said the first man.
But the bad men made up their minds they would catch Shaggo, and so they laid their plans. They gradually came nearer and nearer to him, and, to keep out of their way, Shaggo traveled in just the direction the men wanted him to. They were slowly driving him toward a lonely valley where they had set a trap.
“And to get him into the trap before he knows it, we’ll sprinkle some salt along the way,” said one of the men. “Buffaloes like salt. He’ll follow a salt trail and be in the trap before he knows it.”
And this is just what happened. Shaggo was so eager to get the salt that he never noticed where he was going until he heard the trap door slam shut behind him, and then he was caught.
“Now we’ve got him!” cried the men, as they rushed up.
Shaggo, when he knew that he was caught, tried to get away.His head was big and strong and hard. He had often knocked down fence posts, and butted over other buffaloes, just as he had knocked down the antelopes. So now Shaggo thought he could knock a hole in the trap and get out. He tried it, but the logs of which the trap was made were stronger than the buffalo’s head. He only felt himself hurled back, making his sore shoulder hurt worse than ever. After trying this two or three times Shaggo gave up.
Shaggo, when he knew he was caught, tried to get away.
Shaggo, when he knew he was caught, tried to get away.
“It’s of no use,” he sadly said to himself. “I’m caught. I may as well make the best of it. I guess my adventures are over.”
But Shaggo was wrong about this—his adventures were just beginning.
The men who had built the trap gathered around to peer in through the cracks at Shaggo.
“He’s a big fellow!” said one.
“The largest I’ve ever seen,” added another.
The men talked for a while around the log cage they had made to catch Shaggo. He could see them through the cracks, as they could see him. The buffalo did not care for the salt any more, though there was still plenty of it on the ground inside the trap. Instead Shaggo began to feel very thirsty.
“I could almost drink some of that hot water in the cave,” thought the big buffalo to himself. “My, how thirsty I’m getting!”
And so, a little later when Shaggo suddenly saw one end of the trap open and noticed, just beyond it, a pail of water, the buffalo rushed forward to get a drink. He could smell the water and knew it was good.
“Ha! He’s doing just what we wanted him to,” said one of the men, though of courseShaggo did not know what they were saying, as he only understood animal talk.
“Yes, he’s going into the smaller cage. Now we can put him on a wagon and ship him off to some circus. Then we’ll get our money,” went on another man.
What they had done was this. They had made a cage of strong wood with a single door to it. This cage had been placed near the trap, and a pail of water was set inside the cage. Then the trap door was opened so Shaggo could walk out into the cage to get a drink.
And the buffalo had done that. He did not know he was walking from the trap into a traveling cage, but that is what he had done. All he thought of was the drink, just as all he had thought of, before, had been the salt.
So Shaggo walked into the cage and, while he was drinking, the door was shut behind him.
“Now we can easily handle him,” said one of the men. “We shall have no more trouble with this buffalo.”
Poor Shaggo looked about him. He was in a much smaller place than he had ever been in before. The cage, which was made of strong branches of trees, was just large enough for him to turn around, but not to run or jump.
“I thought I was cramped, and had no roomon the range in the Park,” said Shaggo to himself, as he looked at the narrow cage. “But I had a thousand times as much room there as I have here. I guess I was foolish to jump over that fence. All I have gotten out of it, so far, is a sprained shoulder and some salt. I could have got the salt by staying at home. As for the sore shoulder, I don’t want that at all. It hurts too much, and it seems to be growing bigger. I wonder why that is?”
But Shaggo had no time to wonder much about himself. He was too anxious over what the men were going to do. He could easily see them through the wooden bars of his cage, but he could not reach them with his hoofs or his horns. Perhaps it is a good thing he could not, for he might have tried to trample on them, or knock them down.
“Get the cage up on the wagon,” said one of the men, “and we’ll take this buffalo to the train and ship him off. Then no one will know that we have one of the Government animals.”
Shaggo did not understand this talk, of course. But he saw a lot of men coming toward him and he began to trample around in the cage.
“Look out! He’ll get loose!” shouted one of the men, as he sprang away. “I don’t want him to horn me!”
“Oh, he won’t get out!” another man said. “I made that cage good and strong on purpose. It will hold a grizzly bear or a buffalo.”
And, surely enough, Shaggo could not get out, try as he might. He did not care so much about hurting the men as he did about getting loose, but he could do neither. The cage shook and rattled, but it held firm, and a little later the men hoisted it up on a wagon, pulling and hauling it by ropes.
“Now we’re ready to go to the train,” cried the man who seemed to be the leader.
Horses were hitched to the wagon. At first one of them shied when he caught sight of Shaggo and smelled the wild, buffalo odor. But Shaggo was not afraid of horses. He had often seen them in the big, National Park. And not all horses are afraid of buffaloes. It is only horses that never have seen the big, shaggy creatures that show signs of fear.
It was a new adventure for Shaggo to be given a ride instead of walking or running on his own legs. Never before, in all his life, had he ridden on a wagon. But he was soon to have a stranger ride than this.
Off over the prairie went the big wagon, with the buffalo on it in a cage. The sun grew hot and the men threw a piece of tent cloth over thecage to shade Shaggo, and the buffalo was glad of this.
The men were not cruel to him, for they gave him grass and hay, and also water to drink on the journey. But for all that the buffalo wished himself out of the cage. The jolting of the wagon made his sore shoulder ache more and more.
Toward evening, after the piece of canvas had been taken off, Shaggo caught sight, through the bars of his cage, of several buildings.
“We’ll stay here to-night,” said one of the men. “Then go on to the railroad in the morning.”
In the morning the wagon started off once more. In about two hours Shaggo saw a lot of black smoke.
“Oh, the prairies must be on fire!” thought the buffalo. He had heard Wuffo tell of prairie fires. But the men did not seem to be alarmed.
“There’s the smoke from the train!” called one of the men. “Drive fast or we’ll miss it!”
The horses galloped, and soon the wagon, with Shaggo on it in the cage, drew up beside a train. The mighty buffalo, strong as he was, felt frightened at the strange sights, sounds, and smells. Black smoke poured from a snorting monster that Shaggo, later, came to know was asteam locomotive. Then there was the rumbling of big cars that looked like boxes on wheels. Then came a loud shriek, such as ten or twenty prairie wolves might have given if they all howled at once.
Shaggo, in the cage, was soon loaded into a box car, and the door was pulled shut.
“It’s as dark as it was in the hole where I landed after I jumped the fence!” thought the caged buffalo. “I wonder what will happen next? I don’t like it here!”
For some time nothing happened, except that there was a constant rumbling and roaring as the train puffed over the prairies. Shaggo could see nothing, and no one seemed to be in the car with him. After a while, however, the door was opened and a man came in to give the buffalo some hay and water. Then the door was shut again and it was once more dark. Shaggo did not enjoy his first train ride.
All of a sudden, the mighty buffalo was awakened from his sleep by a great crash. It was like a hundred thunder storms made into one. At the same time Shaggo felt himself tossed up and around and shaken from side to side. Then he felt himself sliding out of the car door, while, all about him, he heard wild shouts and a great racket.