94 INDIAN BIG GAME 



me wonder if the place was not a bit too hot for 

 me, as there was my bull throwing up the dust 

 with his horns, and coming, as it appeared to me, 

 straight for my place of concealment, tossing 

 his head from side to side, with every manifesta- 

 tion of wrath. I, of course, concluded he had 

 seen our crouching forms as we crept up to the 

 rock. Anyway, I was prepared for him, and just 

 let him come on to within a few paces. The 

 only target he offered was his broad forehead, 

 and I let him have it straight in the centre with 

 my Ubique, bringing him down on to his knees. 

 He recovered almost at once, and commenced 

 staggering round as if he were drunk, evidently 

 dazed and stupid from the shock, so I livened him 

 up with the left behind the shoulder, when off 

 he lumbered. Hastily loading, I hurried forward, 

 and found myself literally surrounded by bison, 

 while Madha was warning me to take care, and 

 trying to attract my attention to another bull. 

 This explained the extraordinary behaviour of my 

 bull. Just before we had got up to him, a herd 

 must have come in his direction, and the old 

 fellow wished to dispute possession of the herd. 

 On our right was a hollow which had concealed 

 the herd from our view. 



We were yet to see a still stranger thing ! 

 The herd, with tails in air, had charged down 

 the hill and disappeared out of sight, but as 

 we advanced to look for the wounded bull, a 

 wonderful sight met our eyes. There was the 

 herd bull — having forsaken his harem — deliber- 

 ately horning the wounded fellow off the place. 

 My bull, with the other one close on his heels, 



