ENCOUNTER WITH A BUFFALO. 253 



ensconce ourselves behind the slender shrubs that grew 

 round the spot, while Frolic unwisely took to his heels. 

 The buffalo saw him, and uttering a continued unearthly 

 noise, between a grunt and a bellow, advanced at a pace 

 at which these unwieldy creatures are rarely seen to run, 

 unless stirred by revenge. 



" Crashing through the low bushes, as if they were 

 stubble, he passed me, but charged quite over Money- 

 penny's lurking-place, who aimed at him as he came on, 

 and lodged the ball in the rocky mass of horn above 

 his head : the buffalo was so near at the time of his 

 firing, that the horn struck the gun-barrels at the next 

 instant ; but whether the noise and smoke confused the 

 animal, or he was partially stunned by the bullet, he 

 missed my friend, and continued his pursuit of Frolic. 



" The Hottentot dodged the enraged and terrific-looking 

 brute round the bushes, but through these slight obstacles 

 he dashed with ease, and gained ground rapidly, Speech- 

 less, we watched the chase, and, in the awful moment, 

 regardless of concealment, stood up, and saw the buffalo 

 overtake his victim and knock him down. At this crisis, 

 my friend fired his second barrel into the beast, which 

 gave Frolic one or two blows with his fore-feet, and push- 

 ing his nose under, endeavoured to toss him ; but the 

 Hottentot, aware of this, lay with much presence of mind 

 perfectly still. 



" Moneypenny now shouted to me, ' The buffalo is com- 

 ing ; ' and, in darting round a bush, I stumbled on my rifle, 

 cutting my knee very badly. This proved a false alarm ; 



