The life of Buffalo Bill

by Buffalo Bill

As a boy in Kansas, William Cody saw great fleets of prairie schooners on their way to Utah and California. Men walked around with knives and pistols casually tucked into their trousers. Kickapoo Indian boys taught Cody to shoot with a bow and arrows. One of Cody's cousins ran away to sea, joined the circus and became a bare-back rider. No wonder Billy became the larger-than-life Buffalo Bill -- the possibilities for adventure seemed limitless in the West of the late 1800's.Cody formed a lifelong friendship with the tall, handsome and laconic "Wild Bill" Hickok which began when, as a boy of twelve, Cody joined a wagon train heading west and Wild Bill protected him from a bully. This might be a slight exaggeration, but that's what makes this story such lively reading.A bit older, Cody was engaged in winter trapping and broke his leg. His partner went for help at the nearest settlement, but that was 125 miles away. He was left alone in a rude shelter they built, and on the 12th day:"I wa