Ill 



After Wild Cow 49 



pushed himself in front of the cow, and shoved her 

 back to prevent her being hurt. The bushman who 

 was with me vowed that he had seen this same 

 bull do this twice before, which shows that there is 

 both sense and affection in what we call " beasts." 

 I fired at the heifer — not liking to kill the bull, a 

 most noble beast — and heard the ball strike some- 

 thing, and go " ping-ng " up into the air. They 

 broke away again, the dogs after them, we after the 

 dogs, tearing like maniacs through the scrub, — a 

 terrible run, — and then, there they were at bay again, 

 in the midst of such a tangled mass of " supple 

 Jacks " that it was absolutely impossible to make out 

 which was which. Then another break away, another 

 terrible buster, — regular up and down running, more 

 down than up, — and I found myself, mightily blown, 

 in a narrow track with the almost impenetrable tea- 

 tree scrub on either side, and the beasts bellowing 

 and roaring close at hand. All of a sudden, out 

 dashed the heifer, the dogs after her, and came bang 

 at the bushman ; he jumped on one side, and she 

 charged straight at me. I judged that it was about 

 time to do something, and fired. Down she went, 

 stone dead, at my very feet, so close that I could 

 touch her with the muzzle of my rifle without taking 

 a step forward. I don't suppose that she could 

 really have hurt me much, but it was a lucky shot ; 

 the bullet hit her right in the centre of the forehead.' 

 In another letter : — ' By the way, I met a Mrs. 

 Brackenbury in Auckland who saw Henry fishing at 



E 



