Читать книгу Shaggo, the Mighty Buffalo: His Many Adventures онлайн

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“At least I don’t have to worry about them,” thought the great, shaggy buffalo—the mightiest of all the herd. He looked across the prairie, which formed part of the government preserve, and could see a crowd of other shaggy animals like himself. In the midst of this throng he noticed two figures moving nimbly about.

“That’s Rumpo and Bumpo butting each other,” said Shaggo to himself. “Well, I hope they get some fun out of it. I don’t care for it any more, though.”

Time was when Shaggo would have been among the first to rush up to see two buffaloes ramming each other with their immense heads with their heavy shock of hair. In fact, Shaggo would have shouldered his way through the throng to a place well up in front. But now he did not care to look on, even from a distance.

“I wonder what is the matter with me?” mused Shaggo. “I wonder what is going to happen? I don’t like it here any more, though I used to think it was the finest place in the world.”

Shaggo looked over as much of the range as he could see. It was so large, however, that he could not see it all at once. There were woods and prairies—flat lands and low lands and hills, wallows and “salt licks.” These last were places where salt cropped up out of the ground, and at certain seasons buffaloes, deer, elks and antelopes came to these places to lick the ground with their tongues to get the taste of salt. Salt is good for some wild animals, such as buffaloes. You may have seen, on a farm, how the cows and sheep are sometimes given salt. Often a lump of rock salt is put in the manger of a horse, for a little salt is good for horses also.