CHAPTER VSHAGGO IN A TRAP
The mighty buffalo was no coward. There were some things of which Shaggo was afraid, and one of them was the hot, bubbling, boiling, geyser in the cave. But he was not afraid of animals like himself, not even the big fierce grizzly bear. Shaggo felt that with his large, heavy head and his horns, which were sharp and strong, if they were not very long, he was a match for almost any other creature.
Of course Shaggo knew nothing of lions, tigers or elephants. Those animals did not live in his part of the world and he had never seen a circus. But of all the animals he knew, he was afraid of none.
So when Shaggo, the mighty buffalo, saw the herd of antelopes coming at him, to drive him away from the drinking pool, he lowered his big, bushy head, pawed the ground with his hoofs, stamped with one foot, and bellowed loudly:
“Come on, all of you! I’m not afraid! I’m thirsty and I’m going to get a drink. I wouldhave taken a drink in peace, and gone off by myself if you had let me alone, but if you want to fight I am ready!”
“Oh, you are, are you?” bleated the antelopes—several of them talking in animal fashion at once. “Well, we’ll show you! This is our turn to be at the drinking pool. You’d better run.”
But Shaggo did not run. He stood with his feet braced in the dirt, and the rushing antelopes, with their sharp horns, came nearer and nearer.
Now one of them was so close to Shaggo that it seemed as if the buffalo would be scratched by the horns. But the big buffalo swung a little to one side, though his sore shoulder hurt him, and, with one sweep of his great head, he knocked the first antelope head over heels, causing him to roll in the dust.
“How do you like that?” bellowed Shaggo.
“Pooh! that’s only one. There are three dozen of us!” cried the next antelope.
That animal, also, rushed at Shaggo, but once again the big buffalo waited until the sharp-horned creature came close enough. Then with a swing of his head, taking care not to let the antelope’s horns hurt him, Shaggo sent this fellow rolling over and over away from the water hole.
“Come on!” bellowed the buffalo. “I’m ready for you!”
He knocked down a third antelope, sending this one turning two somersaults head over heels.
“Ho! Ho!” laughed Shaggo. “This is like the game Rumpo and Bumpo used to play! It’s lots of fun! It’s better than tag! Come on! Who’s going to be the next?”
But now the rush of antelopes stopped. They were not used to being knocked about in this way.
“Come on!” cried Shaggo, sort of laughing to himself. “I thought you were going to drive me away from this water hole!”
“And so I am!” shouted another antelope, who had been at the rear of the herd. “You can’t knock me down!”
With horns lowered he rushed at Shaggo, but the big buffalo was now entering into the spirit of the fight. This time he shook his head a little harder and gave it a wider sweep as the antelope came near him. He sent this animal flying through the air so that he landed some distance away in a clump of bushes.
“There! How do you like that?” cried Shaggo.
“I don’t like it at all,” was the answer of this antelope as he scrambled to his feet.
“Then let me alone!” cried Shaggo. “Comeon now, it’s my turn to have some fun!” With that he rushed straight at the antelopes as they had rushed at him. Some of the mother antelopes, who had small calves with them, grew alarmed.
“Oh, look out!” cried these mothers, as they scampered away, calling to their children to follow. “Our little ones will be hurt!”
“Look out for Shaggo! Look out for Shaggo!” was the cry on all sides now. “He’ll knock us all head over heels!”
“That’s what I will!” said the mighty buffalo. “Here I come!”
He ran faster, shaking his great head, and the sun glistened on his black horns, which, if they were not as long as those of the antelopes, were much thicker.
“Come on! Let’s run!” cried one antelope; and this seemed to be the best thing for them. Those who had been knocked down had got up, and, in another instant, the whole herd was running away over the prairie faster than they had run up to the water hole.
“Hum! Well, that wasn’t so bad! One buffalo making a whole herd of antelopes run away!” laughed Shaggo in his own fashion, as he stopped, raised his head and looked after the running creatures. “I have had one good adventure, anyhow! Oh, but I wish my shoulderdid not hurt so much!” he added, as he felt a twinge of pain.
For now, when the excitement of fighting the antelopes was over, the buffalo felt the pain more than ever. He limped back to the water hole, after making sure that the antelopes had gone far enough away as not to bother him, and took a long drink.
“I guess I’ll eat something and then go to sleep,” decided Shaggo, when he had taken all the water he needed. “Then I can roam wherever I please. I am no longer fenced in. There is no one to order me about—not even Wuffo!”
He began to feel very important, but another twinge of pain in his shoulder made him remember that his adventures were not all happy ones.
Shaggo was so tired because of his adventures, and from the pain in his shoulder, that he slept all night. It was bright morning when he awakened, and the first thing he wanted was a drink.
“I’ll go to the water hole and then I’ll eat my breakfast,” he said to himself. “After that I’ll roam where I please and see what adventures I may meet with.”
When Shaggo reached the water hole he saw, in the soft mud at the bank, the marks of many feet. Among them were those of the antelopes.
“They came back and got their drink after I went away,” laughed Shaggo to himself. He also saw the tracks of a bear and those of a mountain lion. The mountain lion is not like the lion you may have seen in a circus—it is more like a wild cat or a panther.
“Well, I’m not afraid of either a bear or a mountain lion,” thought Shaggo, as he took his drink. “Still, with my sore shoulder, I’d just as soon not have to fight them now. I wish my shoulder would get better!”
It did not pain Shaggo so much as at first, but it was stiff and ached when he walked. It seemed to be swelling, too, as he could see when he looked at the reflection of himself in the water pool, which was like a looking glass.
Now began the wanderings of Shaggo. They took him into many places, and he had many adventures, about which I will tell you. To some of the places Shaggo went himself. To others he was taken by men, whether he liked it or not. And it was when he had to do with men that most of the buffalo’s adventures took place.
Shaggo wandered over the prairie and up into the forests. Now and then he met animal friends, but he did not meet other buffaloes, for they were all on ranges in National Parks, as he had been.
Once Shaggo met a grizzly bear, who growledout a welcome, as he clawed at a rotten stump to get something to eat.
“Where are the rest of you?” asked the bear.
“Whom do you mean?” asked Shaggo.
“The other buffaloes,” went on the bear. “Where are the others of the herd? You buffaloes always travel in crowds.”
“Oh, I am off by myself looking for adventures,” was Shaggo’s answer.
“Well, I wish you luck!” growled the bear, as he shuffled away.
On and on traveled Shaggo. Now and then he stopped to crop the rich grass, or to drink at some small water hole. He did not again come to one as large as that at which he had fought the antelopes.
And once Shaggo accidentally stepped into the hole house of a prairie dog. It was an old hole, and no one lived in it, but Shaggo tripped and fell, hurting his sore shoulder very much.
“Oh dear!” groaned the buffalo, and he felt so bad that he stretched out on the grass and did not get up again for some time. But at last the pain eased somewhat, and then the mighty buffalo wandered on, looking for a place to sleep.
The next morning, on a distant hill, Shaggo saw some small figures, like black dots moving about.
“I wonder if they can be buffaloes?” thoughtShaggo. He watched them carefully, and then he knew the black dots were men moving about, some on horses. Shaggo was more or less acquainted with men. He had seen them in the National Park, and once he had been very close to several who had come to mend the broken wire. The men had not tried to hurt the buffaloes, so Shaggo and his companions were not afraid of them.
“But maybe they are trying to get me inside the fence again,” thought Shaggo. “I am not ready to go back to the preserve yet. I’m going to run away farther.”
So he trotted down into a valley, where the men could not see him, and traveled on. But the next day Shaggo saw the men again, and there seemed to be more of them.
For a week or more Shaggo wandered on, now and then seeing the men again. Sometimes they were near, and again far off. Then, one day, something happened which was the beginning of many strange adventures for the buffalo.
He had eaten his fill of sweet, green grass when he felt a longing for some salt. Animals often have this desire. On the range, from which he had run away, Shaggo knew of several places where there were “salt licks.” There the ground was white with salt, and the animals could lick it up with their tongues.
“I wish I could find such a place now,” thought Shaggo. “I’d like to have some salt!”
To Shaggo, just then, salt would have been as good as a lollypop would taste to you. So the buffalo hunted about on the prairie, and at last, to his joy, he found a few grains of salt.
“It isn’t very much, but it’s better than nothing,” he said to himself as he licked it up. Then, as he walked on, he found that the salt seemed to extend in a long, thin line toward a little valley.
“Oh, maybe there’s a lot of salt there!” thought Shaggo. “I’ll follow this thin line along, and get all I want!”
He licked up the salt as he slowly followed its line, never raising his head to look about him. If he had, Shaggo would have seen, hidden behind the bushes, several men.
“We’ve got him now!” whispered one of the men.
“Almost,” said another in a low voice. “I thought the salt would get him!”
Shaggo kept on licking up the salt, moving forward until he saw, just ahead of him, a pile of the white crystals. This salt was under what seemed to be a shed, but as the buffalo had often gone into a shed on the range he was not afraid of this one.
“At last I have found just what I want—a bigsalt lick,” thought Shaggo to himself. “I surely am in luck to-day!”
He made a rush under the shed, where he could get a quantity of the salt at once instead of only a few grains at a time. But no sooner had he passed into the shed and begun to lick up the salt greedily, than something happened.
There was a bang and a crash behind him! Shaggo raised his head and turned quickly. The shed had been open on one side—the place where the buffalo had entered. But now this side was closed. And, to his surprise, Shaggo found himself shut up in a small house made of heavy logs.
“We’ve got him!” cried the voices of men outside. “We have him now!”
Shaggo made a rush against the log door that had fallen shut behind him. But with all his strength he was not able to knock it open. He was hurled back, his shoulder hurting him dreadfully. And then, as more men ran up, shouting, Shaggo knew what had happened.
“I’m caught in a trap!” bellowed the mighty buffalo.