Sir Samuel Mfoitc Rafter 577 



only gore the body with its horns, but will endeavour 

 to tear it to pieces, and will kneel upon the lifeless form 

 and stamp it with its hoofs until the mutilated remains 

 are disfigured beyond all recognition." 



With this appalling picture of the buffalo before one's 

 mind's eye it is possible, even for the sportsman who 

 has never shot any beast more formidable than a red 

 deer, to form some conception of the extraordinary 

 courage and nerve displayed by Sir Samuel Baker in 

 the following adventure. A wounded buffalo had 

 turned to bay in the shallows of a lake. Baker waded 

 in knee-deep, and at a distance of a few paces put a 

 couple of bullets into him. But there the sulky brute 

 stood as though he bore a charmed life, facing the 

 hunter who, without another bullet left, knew that if he 

 moved a step in retreat the beast would certainly charge. 

 How he got out of his dilemma he thus tells : 



" With a stealthy step and another short grunt, the 

 bull again advanced a couple of paces towards me. 

 He seemed aware of my helplessness, and he was 

 the picture of rage and fury, pawing the water and 

 stamping violently with his forefeet. 



Suddenly a bright thought flashed though my mind. 

 Without taking my eyes off the animal before me, I 

 put a double charge of powder down the right-hand 

 barrel, and tearing off a piece of my shirt, I took all 

 the money from my pouch, three shillings in sixpenny 

 pieces and two anna pieces, which I luckily had with 

 me in this small coin for paying coolies. Quickly 

 making them into a rouleau with the piece of rag, I 

 rammed them down the barrel, and they were hardly 

 VOL. II. 16 



