XIV EXCITING SPORT 295 



wounded, they retreat, at any rate in the great 

 majority of cases, before the presence of man ; and 

 when wounded they are not more dangerous than 

 herd animals under similar circumstances. 



To my mind there is no more exciting sport than 

 following into thick covert the blood spoor of a 

 wounded buffalo. Step by step, with rifle advanced 

 and on full cock, the hunter creeps forward with 

 every sense on the alert, expecting at every instant 

 to see the creature's dark, massive form. It is 

 perfectly wonderful how difficult it is to distinguish 

 the dusky black shape of a large animal when stand- 

 ing motionless in the gloom of dense bush. If, 

 however, your eyes are trained to such work, so 

 that you are pretty sure of spotting the buffalo, if 

 not before, at any rate at the same moment that he 

 sees you, the danger of the proceeding is much 

 diminished, as these animals almost invariably stand 

 at right angles to their spoor, and upon sighting their 

 pursuer, first look at him and then swing themselves 

 head on, before charging. This gives one just time, 

 if cool and ready, to put a bullet into them between 

 the neck and shoulder, which usually, if it does not 

 floor them, makes them give up the idea of charging. 

 When once started, however, a buffalo is a very 

 difficult animal to stop. 



Once, in 1874, when hunting with George Wood 

 near the Chobe, we came upon an old buffalo bull 

 lying down in some long grass. My friend gave 

 him a bullet as he lay, upon which he jumped up 

 and stood behind some mopani trees, only exposing 

 his head and hind-quarters on either side their stems. 

 After eyeing us for a fs:\v seconds, he turned and 

 went off at a gallop, but before he had gone many 

 yards Wood fired at him with his second gun and 



