SOUTH AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO 53 



handsomely. More than half those hit got away chiefly, I 

 think, from our not having as yet adopted the squatting posi- 

 tion ; but this may be a fad of mine, and our bad shooting 

 have been the cause. Two days after leaving the camping 

 ground I have just spoken of, whilst the waggons were moving 

 slowly through the low bush, three bulls crossed the line 

 of march. I was on my horse, Superior, and, with a shout to 

 Murray that I intended to make sure of a bag this time, 

 galloped after them, and singling out one, got alongside of him 

 within five feet and fired He pitched upon his head and lay 

 perfectly still. Making sure he was dead, I would not give 

 him the second barrel, and turned the horse to ride after the 

 two others which were still in view ; but, before I could get 

 my animal into his stride, the wounded beast sprang up and 

 struck him heavily. I felt the thud, but the horse did not 

 fall, and cantered on for twenty yards, when the whisk of his tail 

 dabbled my trousers with blood, and, on getting off, I found a 

 hole thirty inches deep, and nearly wide enough to get into, in 

 his flank, for the horn had been driven up to the base. The 

 bull was too weak to follow up the attack, and died where he 

 stood ; the horse crawled on for a few yards, and then, seeing it 

 was a hopeless case, I put a ball through his head. 



This lesson early in shooting experiences made me cautious 

 in buffalo-hunting throughout the whole of my time, though 

 I have had a narrow escape or two. Coming homewards one 

 afternoon, we stumbled into the middle of a herd asleep in 

 the long grass. Our sudden appearance startled them from 

 their dreams, a panic seized them, and away they galloped 

 in the wildest confusion. One old patriarch had been taking 

 his siesta apart from the rest, in a dense patch of bush 

 to the right : the sound of the gun and the rush of his com- 

 panions roused him, and with one barrel loaded, as I ran 

 after his relations, I found myself face to face with him, within 

 ten yards. He was evidently bent on mischief. We stared at 

 one another for a second. I fired at his broad chest ; it was 

 the best I could do, for his nose was up, and the points of his 



