FURIOUS CHARGE. 189 



re-loaded the gum tickler, and seen that the other guns 

 were ready, I ordered the men to amuse themselves 

 in cutting up a buffalo as noiselessly as possible, 

 while Moloka and I followed after the wounded bull. 

 The tracking was difficult at first, in consequence of 

 the number of tracks, but I soon discovered that he 

 had left the herd and taken a line of his own. This 

 was a good sign. The road he took led us into some 

 very thick underwood, and we went slowly and cau- 

 tiously along. 



A smart and sudden rush within twenty yards 

 of me was the only notice I got of one of the most 

 furious charges I have ever seen. In his wild onset I 

 could not discern head from tail. As if instinctively 

 the gumtickler once more roared, and the bull rolled 

 over, heels over head, coming down with a tre- 

 mendous thump on the ground. Moloka said he was 

 not dead, and recommended caution in approaching 

 him. He was completely hidden from my sight by 

 the underwood where he lay. Though I felt sure 

 he had fallen to rise no more, by the manner in 

 which he turned over, I had not the remotest idea 

 where I had hit him. I could not recollect having 

 seen his head when I fired, but only a huge black mass 

 coming straight at me. I knew, however, I had fired 

 at the nearest visible point. Quickly re-loading, I 

 stood ready for several minutes, and hearing no move- 

 ment on the part of the fallen bull, nor indeed any 

 noise save the distant, discordant yells of the savages 

 at their work of butchery, I approached the spot 

 where he lay. He was quite dead, lying with his tail 

 in the direction in which he had been charging but 



