Over these the Indians,
whose numbers increased every moment, strove to drive the luckless
herd of buffaloes that had chanced to fall in their way. The task was
easy. The unsuspecting animals, of which there were hundreds,
rushed in a dense mass upon the cape referred to. On they came with
irresistible impetuosity, bellowing furiously, while their hoofs
thundered on the turf with the muffled continuous roar of a distant
but mighty cataract; the Indians, meanwhile, urging them on by hideous
yells and frantic gestures.
The advance-guard came bounding madly to the edge of the precipice.
Here they stopped short, and gazed affrighted at the gulf below. It
was but for a moment. The irresistible momentum of the flying mass
behind pushed them over. Down they came, absolutely a living cataract,
upon the rocks below. Some struck on the projecting rocks in the
descent, and their bodies were dashed almost in pieces, while their
blood spurted out in showers. Others leaped from rock to rock with
awful bounds, until, losing their foothold, they fell headlong;
while others descended sheer down into the sweltering mass that lay
shattered at the base of the cliffs.
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