In the event of a stampede, every animal of the separate, yet
consolidated, herds rushed off together, as if they had all gone mad
at once; for the buffalo, like the Texas steer, mule, or domestic
horse, stampedes on the slightest provocation; frequently without
any assignable cause. The simplest affair, sometimes, will start
the whole herd; a prairie-dog barking at the entrance to his burrow,
a shadow of one of themselves or that of a passing cloud, is
sufficient to make them run for miles as if a real and dangerous
enemy were at their heels.
Like an army, a herd of buffaloes put out vedettes to give the alarm
in case anything beyond the ordinary occurred. These sentinels were
always to be seen in groups of four, five, or even six, at some
distance from the main body. When they perceived something approaching
that the herd should beware of or get away from, they started on
a run directly for the centre of the great mass of their peacefully
grazing congeners. Meanwhile, the young bulls were on duty as
sentinels on the edge of the main herd watching the vedettes;
the moment the latter made for the centre, the former raised their
heads, and in the peculiar manner of their species gazed all around
and sniffed the air as if they could smell both the direction and
source of the impending danger.
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