CHAPTER XXIII. 



BUFFALO AGAIN. 



Long ere the sun was up I clambered out of bed, 

 and lighting my lamp, swallowed my breakfast 

 while it was yet dark. The next camp, Gomba, 

 was thirty miles farther on, a very difficult march, 

 so I tried to get my " safari " well on their way by 

 the time the sun was up. I detailed two men to 

 follow me, while I made off back to the swamp 

 of the night before, to chase the elusive impala. 



I met with a series of rebuffs, although they in 

 reality stimulated me to greater keenness. I might 

 almost call them bracing exasperations. The first 

 herd I fell in with was headed by a male with a 

 very fine head. I took a long shot at him, feeling 

 confident now that I had my own rifle. But the 

 shot went just behind him, and quickened his going. 

 I proceeded on my way crestfallen, when suddenly 

 a whole herd darted out from behind a clump of 

 trees and halted in a group some hundreds of yards 

 from me. I had my rifle at the shoulder, but as 

 the females were all in front, I waited till the male 

 should show himself. Just at that moment a stupid, 

 blundering Shensi native, whose services I had 

 chartered to show me the paths, yelled out to me, 

 pointing with his clenched fist, at the very herd I 



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