THE AFRICAN BUFFALO 235 



dazed from the loss of blood, and he was therefore able to 

 twist himself out of the way. It, however, caught him a very 

 severe blow on the knee, which nearly dislocated it, and made 

 it necessary to carry him into camp on a litter ; but after a little 

 careful doctoring and complete rest he was able to take the 

 field again in three weeks. 



On cutting up the beast, I found the 4-bore bullet was too 

 far back, and also too high. The first 8-bore bullet had caught 

 the beast fair behind the shoulder, and had gone through both 

 lungs rather low down, and I think, if the beast had been left alone 

 after it had been knocked down by the next shot, it would very 

 soon have died quietly; but, as it was, the men rushing up and 

 standing round it seemed to inspire it with a final desire for 

 revenge. The second 8-bore bullet was, as I expected, too 

 high, and had passed through the dorsal ridge just above the 

 vertebrae. The shot fired at it as it ran past me caught it in 

 the proper place, went through both lungs and just grazed the 

 heart, and it is more than probable that it was this shot which 

 prevented what might have been a serious accident. 



The other old bull, although we followed him for a long 

 way, eager for revenge, got clean away. 



