BUFFALO HUiNTiNC 145 



lying down in thick bush. The buffalo had circled 

 before lying down, a habit these animals acquire 

 when much hunted. We had unwittingly followed 

 this circling spoor, which inevitably must give 

 the animals the hunters' scent, if any wind at all 

 is blowing. The inevitable happened, and in a 

 moment there was pandemonium as the alarmed 

 animals crashed through the bush all round us, 

 without, however, giving us a chance of a 

 shot. 



An attack of fever on this particular day left 

 me in no condition to control the tracker, who 

 should have stopped following the buffalo im- 

 mediately they circled, and waited to listen for 

 their bovine noises before making the final 

 approach. 



Tuscano was both keen and quite cool when 

 the buffalo rushed through the bushes all round 

 us, though at sueli close quarters an irritable 

 bull (and one of them had a broken leg) or a 

 mother cow will sometimes charge. Though Latins 

 do not usually make such good hunters as Anglo- 

 Saxons, owing to their lack of patience in hunting, 

 they are just as brave, and while they still retain 

 their interest, as enthusiastic. We followed up 

 the buffalo for some time, but never met them 

 again ; and prostrated by fever and weakness, it 

 was only with Tuscano's help that 1 reached 

 camp. 



Very different was my experience two days 

 later, both in steadiness in face of danger and 

 kindliness in distress, with T- , a hunter of Dutch 

 and Irish descent; who had caiupr-d with his wagon 



10 



