XIV BUFFALO AND SOME REGRETS 161 



a tree, but he spotted us every time ; he was 

 quite as frightened as we were, and by 3 p.m. 

 he had been going at high speed for a long 

 time, heading apparently for Ceylon, and so 

 we bade him adieu. The long grass was heavy 

 walking and, in the morning, very wet and 

 cold. 



On the seventh day we saw nothing in the 

 early morning, came back to breakfast, and 

 then began a long day's search. As we went 

 along the road we came on the morning's tracks 

 of a big bull. The jungle men said he would 

 probably be lying up in a certain clearing, so we 

 made a bee-line there, and found the bull stand- 

 ing in the middle of it. Luck was good, for the 

 whole of the bull's shoulder was above the grass 

 and the stalk was over bare ground under sap- 

 lings, with only a few dead leaves and no grass. 



1 got a clear shot at seventy yards with the -470, 

 raking diagonally at the junction of neck and 

 chest. The bull galloped a hundred yards and 

 fell dead. I fired other shots, most of which hit 

 but were not needed. The solid nickel bullet 

 made a small entrance wound, and caused no 

 bleeding until he fell. 



This was a really fine bull, with horns 9 feet 



2 inches long and 18 inches in girth at the base. I 

 was more than pleased. I had shot my one and 

 only buffalo, and, especially after getting so fine 

 a specimen, would not have wished to kill another 

 of these magnificent beasts. They are certainly 

 impressive animals, and when one is close to and 

 in good view of them in grass, one is struck by their 

 solid massiveness. Although their power of scent 



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