BULLET AND SHOT 



of the dreaded rogue elephant, and the escaping 

 in thy humble hearth of the destructive small- 

 pox ! 



Taking our newly discovered wild man with us, 

 we constituted him our "guide, philosopher and 

 friend," and followed him through forest of varied 

 character, till we reached some high ground covered 

 with only a stunted growth of short stuff and tiny 

 trees, which latter are not termed "saplings" only 

 because they were too old to be so called. 



While passing through this, I happened to notice 

 a dark object on the ground, but before I had at all 

 made it out, it sprang up and rushed off, displaying 

 the noble proportions of a fine bull bison. 



W., who was carrying his "577 express, at once 

 fired both barrels as the bull rushed through the 

 little trees, while I grabbed wildly for my 8-bore 

 rifle which was being carried by a man behind me. 

 Cocking and pitching it, just as if I had been firing 

 a snapshot at a snipe, I fired ; the bull collapsed 

 at the shot, and fell to rise no more. 



We went up close, and found that, though there 

 was still a slight muscular movement, the animal 

 was dead to all intents and purposes, my bullet 

 having entered the spine through the neck. One 

 of W.'s bullets had hit him in the rump, but the 

 other had apparently been taken en route by one of 

 the before-mentioned trees, for it was nowhere in 

 the animal, and as I since had ample means of 

 knowing, it was seldom that W. missed a fair shot 

 in the open ; though in cover, in firing a running 

 shot, no one, however first-class a shot he may be, 



5 



