The fate of the Plains Indian was inextricably bound up with the fate of the buffalo; they fell together. This is the story Miss Sandoz has to tell [in "The Buffalo Hunters"], and she tells it beautifully, forcefully, epically. She knows what she is writing about to the minutest detail; she knows the Great Plains country and loves it—not as a tourist but as a native, well aware of its drawbacks and dangers.

A procession of interesting frontier figures, red and white, passes through the narrative, briefly but sharply characterized: Wild Bill Hickok, one of the most controversial figures of the time—they are still arguing about him in some sections of the West; pompous Buffalo Bill, part charlatan, part authentic frontiersman; Phil Sheridan, Bat Masterson, Custer and his wild-headed brother, and the great Indian chiefs Roman Nose, Yellow Wolf, Spotted Tail and Sitting Bull. There are...