get an aim at his side.

There was no possibility of his killing him without assistance, and of
course the poor beast could not be abandoned in such a helpless
condition, so Faye decided to go over and worry him, while Lieutenant
Alden got in the fatal shot. As soon as Faye got there I put my
fingers over my ears so that I would not hear the report of the
pistol. After a while I looked across, and there was the buffalo still
standing, and both Faye and Lieutenant Alden were beckoning for me to
come to them. At first I could not understand what they wanted, and I
started to go over, but it finally dawned upon me that they were
actually waiting for me to come and kill that buffalo! I saw no glory
in shooting a wounded animal, so I turned my horse back again, but had
not gone far before I heard the pistol shot.

Then I rode over to see the huge animal, and found Faye and Lieutenant
Alden in a state of great excitement. They said he was a magnificent
specimen--unusually large, and very black--what they call a blue
skin--with a splendid head and beard. I had been exposed to a bitterly
cold wind, without the warming exercise of riding, for over an hour,
and my hands were so cold and stiff that I could scarcely hold the
reins, so they jumped me up on the shoulders of the warm body, and I
buried my hands in the long fur on his neck. He fell on his wounded
side, and looked precisely as though he was asleep---so much so that I
half expected him to spring up and resent the indignity he was being
subjected to.

Very soon after that Faye and I came on home, reaching the post about
seven o'clock. We had been in our saddles most of the time for twelve
hours, on a cold day, and were tired and stiff, and when Faye tried to