"To handle buffalo, elk and bear, you must get into sympathy with
their methods of reasoning. No tenderfoot stands any show, even
with the tame animals of the Yellowstone."

The old buffalo hunter's lips were no longer locked. One after
another he told reminiscences of his eventful life, in a simple
manner; yet so vivid and gripping were the unvarnished details
that I was spellbound.

"Considering what appears the impossibility of capturing a
full-grown buffalo, how did you earn the name of preserver of the
American bison?" inquired Wallace.

"It took years to learn how, and ten more to capture the
fifty-eight that I was able to keep. I tried every plan under the
sun. I roped hundreds, of all sizes and ages. They would not live
in captivity. If they could not find an embankment over which to
break their necks, they would crush their skulls on stones.
Failing any means like that, they would lie down, will themselves
to die, and die. Think of a savage wild nature that could will
its heart to cease beating! But it's true. Finally I found I
could keep only calves under three months of age. But to capture
them so young entailed time and patience. For the buffalo fight
for their young, and when I say fight, I mean till they drop. I
almost always had to go alone, because I could neither coax nor
hire any one to undertake it with me. Sometimes I would be weeks
getting one calf. One day I captured eight--eight little buffalo
calves! Never will I forget that day as long as I live!"