THE BUFFALO 



been seen. It was near work. The gunbearers 

 crouched close to me. I held the heavy double gun 

 ready. If the beast had elected to charge I would 

 have had less than ten yards within which to stop 

 it. Fortunately it did not do so. But instantly 

 the herd was afoot and off at full speed. A loco- 

 motive amuck in a kindling pile could have made no 

 more appalling a succession of rending crashes than 

 did those heavy animals rushing here and there 

 through the thick woody growth. We could see 

 nothing. Twice the rush started in our direction, 

 but stopped as suddenly as it had begun, to be suc- 

 ceeded by absolute stillness when everything, our- 

 selves included, held its breath to listen. Finally, 

 the first panic over, the herd started definitely away 

 downstream. We ran as fast as we could out of the 

 jungle to a commanding position on the hill. Thence 

 we could determine the course of the herd. It con- 

 tinued on downstream as far as we could follow the 

 sounds in the convolutions of the hills. Realizing 

 that it would improbably recover enough from its 

 alarmed condition to resume its regular habits that 

 day, we returned to camp. 



Next morning Memba Sasa and I were afield before 

 daylight. We took no other men. In hunting I 

 am a strong disbeliever in the common habit of 

 trailing along a small army. It is simple enough, ix\ 



3$x 



