138 A BUFFALO HUiST [ch. m 



intended to take advantage of a small, half-dried water- 

 course, an affluent of the Kamiti, which began a mile 

 beyond where we had killed our bulls, and for three or 

 four miles ran in a course generally parallel to the 

 swamp, and at a distance which varied, but averaged 

 perhaps a quarter of a mile. When we reached the 

 beginning of this watercourse, we left oiu- horses and 

 walked along it. Like all such watercourses, it wound 

 in curves. The banks were four or five feet high, the 

 bottom was sometimes dry and sometimes contained 

 reedy pools, while at intervals there were clumps of 

 papyrus. Heatley went ahead, and just as we had about 

 concluded that the buffalo would not come out, he came 

 back to tell us that he had caught a glimpse of several, 

 and believed that the main herd was with them. 

 Cuninghame, a veteran hunter and first-class shot, than 

 whom there could be no better man to have with one 

 when after dangerous game, took charge of our further 

 movements. We crept up the watercourse until about 

 opposite the buffalo, which were now lying down. 

 Cuninghame peered cautiously at them, saw there were 

 two or three, and then led us on all-fours toward them. 

 There were patches where the grass was short, and other 

 places where it was three feet high, and after a good 

 deal of cautious crawling we had covered half the distance 

 toward them, when one of them made us out, and 

 several rose from their beds. They were still at least 

 two hundred yards off — a long range for hea^y rifles ; 

 but any closer approach was impossible, and we fired. 

 Both the leading bulls were hit, and at the shots there 

 rose from the grass not half a dozen buffalo, but seventy 

 or eighty, and started at a gallop parallel to the swamp 

 and across our front. In the rear were a number of 

 cows and calves, and I at once singled out a cow and 



