more about the business than most two-legged hunters. All the rider
was expected to do was to shoot the buffalo. If the first shot failed,
Brigham allowed another; if this, too, failed, Brigham lost patience,
and was as likely as not to drop the matter then and there.

It was this episode that fastened the name of "Buffalo Bill" upon Will,
and learning of it, the friends of Billy Comstock, chief of scouts at
Fort Wallace, filed a protest. Comstock, they said, was Cody's superior
as a buffalo hunter. So a match was arranged to determine whether it
should be "Buffalo Bill" Cody or "Buffalo Bill" Comstock.

The hunting-ground was fixed near Sheridan, Kansas, and quite a crowd of
spectators was attracted by the news of the contest. Officers, soldiers,
plainsmen, and railroadmen took a day off to see the sport, and one
excursion party, including many ladies, among them Louise, came up from
St. Louis.

Referees were appointed to follow each man and keep a tally of the
buffaloes slain. Comstock was mounted on his favorite horse, and carried
a Henry rifle of large caliber. Brigham and Lucretia went with Will. The
two hunters rode side by side until the first herd was sighted and the
word given, when off they dashed to the attack, separating to the right
and left. In this first trial Will killed thirty-eight and Comstock
twenty-three. They had ridden miles, and the carcasses of the dead
buffaloes were strung all over the prairie. Luncheon was served at noon,
and scarcely was it over when another herd was sighted, composed mainly
of cows with their calves. The damage to this herd was eighteen and
fourteen, in favor of Cody.

In those days the prairies were alive with buffaloes, and a third herd