Here Miller has depicted a segment of the hunt after a bull has been separated from the herd (seen in the background being pursued by other hunters) and wounded but not yet defeated.
He is gathering up his energies for a final struggle with his unrelenting pursuers—hunters and horses both being on the alert, keeping a chary distance and watchful eye. Once more on his feet, his onset from his great weight (about 2,500 pounds) is terrible, but he strikes now, as the boxers have it, “all abroad,” being blinded with rage and pain. All will not do, the cunning of man is too much for him,–while he is furiously attacking one party, another with a well-aimed ball strikes a fatal part, which brings him heavily down, bellowing loud enough to wake Morpheus himself—his defiant eye glaring to the last, and seemingly to ask no quarter.
Miller did several other pictures of wounded buffaloes (CR# 116 and CR# 293), emphasizing how dangerous they are even though mortally wounded.
