Chapters 11 & 12 Summary

The narrative of chapter eleven returns to the previous day. Returning from an off-site camping trip, the boys had seen a sign to a buffalo preserve. They persuaded Wheaties to take them as they were not due back at camp until later that day. The preserve was crowded and they joined a group of pickup trucks near to a woman with a telescopic sighted rifle. Some men drove a few buffalo into sight. The woman with the rifle fired and missed and the buffalo stampeded. She fired again, inexpertly, eventually taking down the bull buffalo. The woman rejoiced in her act. Equally inept shooters followed, slaughtering the buffalo with such lack of skill that the animals suffered before dying.

The "hunt" is explained to the reader. It is not really a hunt but a culling of the herd of buffalo. This three day...