120 ADVENTURE WITH A BUFFALO. 



stowed away for food. It was wonderful to see with what ease 

 they could carry an ant as big as themselves, and in half an 

 hour the destruction must have been awful. They drew off 

 after a time, most of them being away already with captives, 

 and we felt we were even with them for all the sugar they had 

 carried off from us, the only thing which would keep them out 

 of the tent being a line of coal-oil. 



A few days later M and I had an amusing adventure 



with a buffalo, which we had wounded and were following 

 through a country intersected by a number of small streams, 

 when we came to one of these with a very steep bank, about 

 fifteen feet high, and at the bottom of this the buffalo an old 

 bull was waiting for us. He came np with a rush, very 

 nearly catching us, as we had not been expecting him. We 

 both fired, and bolted in opposite directions, and he took after 



M , who, instead of going down the bank into the timber 



in the bottom, ran along it, and had a very close shave for it, 

 just doubling in time. On seeing him disappear, the bull 

 stopped for a moment, giving me time to get in a shot, which 

 struck him well forward ; on which he slowly descended the 



bank, close to where M had gone, and walking into the 



stream lay down and rolled over. 



Thinking that he was dead, we both went up to him, leaving 

 our rifles against a tree a few yards away, and before taking 

 out the tongue we sat down on his body and began to discuss 

 the affair, when the buffalo gave a violent heave, nearly throw- 

 ing us off, and then tried to get up, causing us to go up the 

 bank faster than we had come down, forgetting our rifles in our 

 hurry. It was, however, a last effort, and he was soon dead. 

 It is astonishing how much lead a buffalo can carry away if 



