'If you want a chase you may have it!' exclaimed the boy as he headed
toward them.

CHAPTER XI. THE STEAM MAN ON A BUFFALO HUNT.

WITH A WILD snort of alarm, the three buffaloes turned tail and dashed
over the prairie, with the shrieking steam man in pursuit.

The boy had taken the precaution to bring a rifle with him. When he
saw them flee in this terrified manner, the thought came to him at
once that he would shoot one of them, and take a portion back to his
friends for their supper.

It would to a grand exploit for him, and he would be prouder of its
performance than he was of the construction of the wonderful steam
man.

The lumbering, rolling gait of the buffaloes was not a very rapid one,
and the boy found himself speedily overhauling them without
difficulty. They did not know enough to separate, but kept close
together, sometimes crowding and striking against each other in their
furious efforts to escape.

But, after the chase had continued some time, one of the animals began
to fall in the rear, and Johnny directed his attention toward him, as
be would be the most easy to secure.

This fellow was a huge bull that was slightly lame, which accounted
for his tardiness of gait. Frightened as he was, it was not that blind
terror which had seized the Indians when they discovered the steam man