TROPHIES OF THE CHASE. 237 



cealed myself from sight. Perceiving the womided 

 animal standing nearest to me, the wound distinctly 

 visible in its side, and next to it a very fine bull, I 

 let drive at the beast's shoulder. He charged at once 

 across me. It was a beautiful sight to see this mad 

 determined charge in the wrong direction! I fired 

 the second barrel, aiming well in front of him, and 

 he tumbled like a hare — head over heels. Examina- 

 tion showed two bullet holes in the left side, within 

 six inches of each other, both well placed. 



Moloka, who had seen this, as well as the other 

 wounded animal, which he said was a cow, asked 

 me to let him go and kill it, as it could not live long, 

 and would be sure to feed the hyenas and jackals. 

 We followed it together, and a quarter of an hour 

 later it fell an easy prey to the big gun. I was 

 now completely done up, and suffered greatly from 

 thirst, as we had not brought a drop of water with us, 

 thinking we should be only a little while out, and not 

 far from the river bed. In addition to this, I found 

 I had lost during the chase my powder-horn, pipe, 

 and tobacco. Passing, on our return, the dead ani- 

 mals, to obtain their tails as trophies for Cotondway, 

 I luckily foiind the powder-horn ; but the pipe and 

 fragrant weed were never seen afterwards. 



Having collected the five tails, I began retracing 

 my steps. It was almost dark, and I discovered 

 by their fresh spoor that, while hunting the buffaloes, 

 I had disturbed a herd of elephants, having passed in 

 full cry close to where they had been standing. This 

 was, to a certain extent, unlucky. We had a long 



