Death of the Vicious Buffalo. 329 



to the left. I could see so far that all was plain 

 sailing, so I hurried on, having my weapon ready 

 for instant use. I was near the bend and advancing 

 more cautiously, when there was a rush, and the broad 

 head of the buffalo was within a couple of yards of 

 me. Unfortunately for him, but luckily for me, for 

 the sake of greater concealment he had left the bed 

 of the nullah and taken up a position on the further 

 bank. To get at me he had either to clear the 

 nullah or to jump in and out ; the banks were 

 crumbly, and as he sprung forward the ground gave 

 away partially under him, his foot caught in a pendent 

 vine, and he came an awful cropper, rolling right over 

 on to his back within a couple of feet of me ! So I gave 

 him both barrels, then springing up, I caught the 

 lowest branch and drew myself aloft, resting my feet 

 against the trunk of the tree, just underneath the 

 branch I was clinging to. This did not take me a second 

 and I was in a horizontal position just out of his 

 reach when he rose to his feet. Let him toss his 

 mighty head ever so high he could not get closer to 

 me than about six inches, but the position I was in 

 was not over safe, and very constrained. I could not 

 hold on very long, and the bull did not seem inclined 

 to move off; in trying to shift my hold with one 

 hand to go higher up, and to get astride of the branch 

 I was clinging to, I found my left hand impaled 

 one of the long massive thorns had gone right through 

 it. I had not, in the excitement of the moment, felt 

 the pain, but when I attempted to move it now the 

 wound caused the most intense agony. Throw a leg 

 over the branch to relieve myself of the weight was 

 impossible, as in so doing, I would be almost certain 



