THE BUFFALO 



angular gentle slope overgrown with scattered bushes 

 and high grass. Beyond this again ran another 

 jungle, angling up hill from the first, to end in a 

 forest of trees about thirty or forty acres in extent. 

 This jungle and these trees were backed up against 

 the slope of the mountain. The buffaloes we had first 

 seen above the grove: they must now have sought 

 cover among either the trees or the lower jungle: 

 and it seemed reasonable that the beasts would 

 emerge on the grass and bush area late in the after- 

 noon. Therefore Memba Sasa and I selected good 

 comfortable sheltered spots, leaned our backs against 

 rocks, and resigned ourselves to long patience. It 

 was now about nine o'clock in the morning, and we 

 could not expect our game to come out before half 

 past three at earliest. We could not, however, go 

 away to come back later because of the chance that 

 the buffaloes might take it into their heads to go trav^- 

 elling. I had been fooled that way before. For this 

 reason, also, it was necessary, every five minutes or 

 so, to examine carefully all our boundaries; lest the 

 beasts might be slipping away through the cover. 

 The hours passed very slowly. We made lunch 

 last as long as possible. I had in my pocket a small 

 edition of Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven 

 Gables," which I read, pausing every few minutes 

 to raise my glasses for the periodical examination of 



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