94 CHALLENGED BY ARMED NATIVES. 



yards of them. I was soon perceived by these wary 

 animals, and seeing no chance of getting any nearer, 

 took a steady shot at the largest buck, and to my de- 

 light he turned over on his back the moment he was 

 hit. I then called to the two men to come, as a 

 buck was killed, but as they came running up, to 

 my surprise the animal that had lain struggling on 

 the ground for some seconds jumped up and ran 

 away past me. I fired the remaining barrel at him 

 at about a hundred yards, but missed him. Hav- 

 ing reloaded, I followed up his spoor for some dis- 

 tance when I saw him standing broadside on about 

 eighty yards off looking at me. In another instant he 

 was dead, the ball passing through him just behind 

 the shoulder. This buck had a good pair of horns, 

 and being in excellent condition, afforded some very 

 good grub. The firing of these shots had much in- 

 creased my headache, and so great was the torture I 

 suffered, that I was compelled to return and go to 

 bed at once. 



It was indeed cheering, when starting at dawn the 

 following morning, to find we had a nice breeze in 

 our favour. The long wished-for wind had really 

 come at last. It was no doubt welcome to the Ma- 

 kololos, but doubly so to us. It lasted all day, en- 

 abling us to make a capital run. We soon left Kun- 

 doodzi behind, and by 5 p.m. were under Mount 

 N 'zongone. Here we were met by a large tribe as- 

 sembled on the west bank, armed Avith guns, spears, 

 bows and arrows, &c. They called on us to stop in 

 the middle of the river, ordering us not to come near 

 the bank. On being asked what they wanted, they 



