198 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



bleeding from wounds in the nose, throat, and ears, while one 

 eye was dangling down by a single muscle. On seeing me 

 they stopped short, and gazed at me with something akin to 

 curiosity, and before they were done scrutinizing I dashed at 

 them and emptied four chambers of the revolver in their midst. 

 This caused them to scatter in a hurry, but I had the satisfac- 

 tion of killing one and hitting another before they could get 

 away. I slung the slain animal on my saddle, but allowed 

 the wounded one to escape, as I did not wish to run my horse 

 too much. Wolves of both species were quite common, 

 and were feeding on dead buffaloes, but they did not dare 

 go near the one on which my handkerchief was placed, 

 their bum]) of cautiousness being too gi'eat to approach any 

 strange object for fear it might mean danger to their physical 

 welfare. 



Soon after I had taken the brush of my first bull, the 

 waggons came up, and the drivers commenced loading them 

 with heads and hides, but they only took the best portions of the 

 meat. After pointing out to them the route the hunters had 

 taken, I started off to rejoin the remainder of the party, but I 

 had not proceeded far before I met a solitary old bull in a dry 

 ravine, and, judging by his looks, he must have been a veteran 

 indeed, for his head was covered with dense masses of hair, his 

 horns were split and pointless, and the scars on his nose and 

 hams showed that he had had many a contest with wolves. 

 He did not see or wind me until I was fairly upon him, for the 

 sight of the buifalo at the best is comparatively feeble, but 

 when once he recognized my presence he bolted away at a 

 good swinging gallop, which forced my horse to put on a good 

 spurt to overtake him. When I ranged alongside him I fired 

 at his spinal column, but the bullet striking him lower down, 

 he no sooner felt its sting than he wheeled abruptly and 

 charged ire, and before I could get safely away he gave the 

 mustang an upward raking blow in the flanks that scraped 

 away some of the skin and brought the blood. This caused 

 my steed to bound oil' at his best pace, and we were soon bevond 

 reach of danger. Had his horn not been blunt he would, no 

 doubt, have seriously injured my hoi>c,or perhaps killed u.- both. 



