244 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



as thick as your finger, growing about six inches apart and eight 

 feet high, you will find it exciting enough. The bull will 

 probably turn short off at an angle just before he lies down, 

 and if he means mischief will be watching his trail ; you will 

 then probably get within ten yards of him before you see him, in 

 which case you will be able to realise the sensations of a valiant 

 mouse hunting a man in a stubble-field. At this period in the 

 chase you will naturally have the 8-bore in hand again. 

 Presently the bull will either start up close to you, or you will 

 perceive a black mass on the ground. Your only course then is 

 to fire and lie down on the ground at once ; the smoke will 

 prevent your getting in a second barrel, and if the bull charges 

 the smoke he will gallop over you without seeing you. It is not 

 a bad plan to leave a man permanently up the first tree you 

 reach to watch till you have quite done with the cover, as he 

 will probably be able to see where the bull goes if he moves. 

 If the bull is wounded again in thick stuff and again lies down in 

 it, he is probably past doing harm ; but still it is advisable to 

 give him the time of another pipe. A man up a tree who can 

 watch the exact place he is lying in is invaluable. Natives at this 

 period of the chase, more particularly the inexperienced ones, 

 invariably get excited and lose their heads, offering to go in 

 and pull the bull out by the tail, and looking upon any precau- 

 tion taken as a sign of faint-heartedness on the part of the 

 sportsman. If the sportsman gives way to them and allows 

 them to accompany him in the final stalk, he will probably 

 get some fool hurt through disobedience of orders. The last 

 approach to a wounded bull in thick cover should invariably 

 be made alone, or with one gun-bearer, the rest of the men being 

 put up trees. 



Solitary bulls, Sanderson declares, are not a bit more savage 

 by disposition than herd bulls, and the instances of their attack- 

 ing natives when unwounded are almost invariably due to the 

 bull being approached unawares within striking distance in the 

 midst of thick cover. 



He narrates a case of a gentleman being killed on the 



