THE VENGEANCE OF THE WILD 245 



tossed by a buffalo. Accidents of this sort, 

 and worse, still befall sportsmen, but with the 

 difference that, whereas with the old weapons 

 it was, as often as not, experienced sportsmen 

 who suffered, disaster is nowadays generally 

 the penalty of ignorance or carelessness. Yet 

 not the most cautious can invariably reckon 

 on immunity, for even modern rifles sometimes 

 misfire, or the ejector sticks, and native gun- 

 bearers have not lost their habit of bolting 

 with the spare rifle at the critical moment. 

 In some cases, indeed, the indifferent shoot- 

 ing of their employer holds out no induce- 

 ment to face the danger of a sudden charge 

 in his company, and a convenient tree offers 

 the greater chance of safety. Then, again, 

 there is always the uncertain quantity of a 

 wild animal's cunning, which at times will 

 baffle the most experienced hunter. On the 

 whole, however, the cause of accident under 

 modern conditions is that the sportsman 

 is either using a small-bore rifle, which calls 

 for more accurate shooting than he is capable 

 of, or goes after a wounded animal in high 

 grass without sufficient precaution against 

 those arts of ambuscade of which the buffalo 

 and some other creatures of the wilderness are 

 masters. Other heavy game will charge sud- 

 denly and blindly, not necessarily with the 

 object of doing mischief, but with none the 



