ON THE KAMBUKENAAR RIVER. 177 



For a long time I saw nothing, till at last I noticed 

 some dark spots a good long way off. The glass 

 showed them to be a herd of buffalo. They were near 

 a belt of jungle, which I could reach by making a 

 considerable dttour, and the belt was to leeward of 

 them. Accordingly I started off, but the sun was low- 

 before I got to the spot I had selected. Luckily, 

 however, the herd had fed along the covert, not away 

 from it. Careful examination convinced me the best 

 chance was at one of two bulls some hundred yards 

 to my right. Once more I withdrew, and circled round 

 to where I had seen them. I had hit it off exactly, for 

 neither was fifty yards from me. 



Having got breath I fired at the nearest, and 

 seeing him drop to the shot, gave the other bull my 

 left barrel. He too dropped, but before I could reload, 

 the first one struggled to his knees, got up, and made 

 off, but only slowly. Knowing what a nasty brute a 

 wounded " buff" is, I let him turn away before I ran 

 after him. In doing this I passed the second bull, 

 lying still. The wounded one, however, was following 

 the herd at a fair pace, but the track was easy, for 

 there was a lot of blood. When it led into jungle I 

 advanced cautiously, expecting a charge every minute. 

 There was a crash in the bushes and then silence. I 

 moved quietly on. Here was the spot ; the bull had 

 been lying down, and on hearing me had fled again. 

 Evidently he was not a fighting sort, so I followed with 

 less caution, but though I heard him twice afterwards 

 I never got a sight of him. 



Presently I came across something very surprising 



