278 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



was no time to ponder, only just to do as the moment 

 suggested. He grasped the horns, was raised up by them, 

 and balanced for an age-long second in the air ; then, half- 

 thrown, half himself springing to earth, tore ahead, without 

 stopping to look behind. 



And now happened one of those unexpected things that 

 do occur once and again when mortal aid is past praying 

 for. As F. ran in the direction of the rifle placed ready for 

 him he noticed a sudden cessation of pounding hoofs 

 behind him, but the bellowing and snorting were redoubled. 

 He turned to look, and at the same instant the men's cries 

 changed from desperation to joy and triumph ; for lo ! 

 the bull had trapped himself. In 'his blind fury, heedless 

 of his own steps, and only bent on annihilating his enemy, 

 he had fallen nearly chest-deep into the wedge-shaped split 

 of a rock, with all his feet in a bunch ; and the more he 

 struggled the tighter he stuck. But for this F.'s hand might 

 not have steadied itself effectively to order ; but now it 

 was easy, even for his still shaky grasp, to fire the death 

 shot at the hampered bison, and thus in the end to become 

 the rescuer of the poor imprisoned beast ; not to lif e indeed 

 — that might not be — but from a death of protracted agony. 

 Death, grim, and as it seemed inevitable, had loomed before 

 F. himself a minute agone, and in the very next all peril 

 was past ! 



Even such experiences were not enough to put F. off 

 bison-hunting, his love of it went too deep ; and, as I have 

 said, no species of sport approached it in the charm it had 

 for him. He admitted that in degree the events of that one 

 day did go beyond the mark for sensations, but in kind they 

 were the sort of thing he really lived for during these 

 expeditions. 



On my asking him afterwards where his thoughts were — 

 if he had any at all — at the moment of being tossed, he said 

 that he distinctly remembered thinking when his belt broke 



