Buffalo 



by a grand old bull. Weddell whispered to me 

 to fire first, he would look after himself, so, 

 aiming at the centre of the shoulder, I pulled 

 the trigger. Thump went the heavy bullet into 

 the beast as the herd rushed in one confused 

 mass away from the grass. The bull I hit gave 

 a half-bellow, half-groan, when Weddell said, 

 " That one is mortally hit." I hit another bull 

 hard with my left-hand barrel, but did not hear 

 him groan. I doubt if I could have distinguished 

 it then in the general noise and confusion. The 

 herd had now galloped into the open, the bulls 

 in front and in the rear, the cows and calves in 

 the centre. They went but three or four hundred 

 yards before they halted in a bunch and such a 

 bunch ! " Come on ! " said Weddell, and we ran 

 out into the open after the herd, getting within 

 one hundred yards. I knelt down and hit two 

 more bulls. One groaned loudly and dropped 

 to the shot, the other was swallowed up in the 

 herd. 



Now they took fright in earnest. Never shall 

 I forget the pandemonium that followed, for 

 they went crashing through a belt of high reeds, 

 which were laid as flat as though hundreds of 

 steam-rollers had passed over them. The ex- 

 citement had been so intense that I had quite 

 overlooked Weddell, and what execution he had 

 effected. " I have got two bulls, I believe, and 

 hit three more," he said. My first bull I found 

 i 113 



