BULLET AND SHOT 



foot was quite helpless. I foolishly followed him 

 up for some distance, but did not see him again 

 probably luckily for myself, for the only sight 

 of him which I could well have obtained would 

 have been that of his head, at very close quarters, 

 had he charged me ! 



I then procured an elephant, and tried to obtain 

 a view of the bull from its back, but found it 

 hopeless. So high were the reeds, that the cover 

 was often above my head as I sat on my lofty 

 perch, and we failed to track him up. A few 

 days later I heard that the bull had been found 

 dead, and that he had a ring in his nose. It 

 appeared that he was once tame, but had become 

 quite wild (very possibly his father was a wild bull). 



Some Assamese came up to my bungalow stating 

 that I had shot their bull, and demanding com- 

 pensation, adding by way of proof that they had 

 found the cartridge cases. My reply was, I fear, 

 not very polite, and they went off, but did not 

 attempt to enforce their claim in a court of law. 

 The fact was that the bull had reverted to a state 

 of nature, and was quite beyond human control. 



It will be seen from the above that consistent 

 bad luck was my portion when attempting to shoot 

 wild buffaloes in Assam, but I had not even one of 

 the three requisites viz., money, time, and ele- 

 phants for sport in those jungles, a man on foot 

 having no chance there. It is often very difficult 

 to distinguish wild from tame animals in jungles 

 to which both have access, the latter being in 

 Assam fine large beasts, and very often, as above 



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