The Eastern Congo 



haunt of his, under less peaceful circumstances, when man, 

 backed by his devilish inventions, was to come off victor 

 in the encounter. 



It happened in this way. The porters were wanting 

 food and needs must have it, so I took my rifle and strolling 

 out in my usual direction, again encountered my whilom 

 friend of the previous day, shot at and wounded him but 

 not so badly that he was unable to escape the subsequent 

 chase. Coming back empty-handed therefore, I decided 

 to try my luck in the same direction on the following day. 



On this occasion I had stalked a small herd of waterbuck 

 and having fired several rounds at the leader of the troop, 

 I was suddenly startled by the crash of breaking branches 

 a short distance behind me, and on turning round was faced 

 again by my redoubtable opponent, who had apparently 

 been lying up with his wound in a thicket close at hand and 

 was now charging madly towards me. Fortunately, I still 

 had a solitary bullet in my rifle, and I lost no time in placing 

 it into the on-coming foe. The immediate effect of this 

 was not, however, apparent, for although he swerved, it 

 did not alter the infuriated animal's intention of getting 

 its charge home. Thinking my number was up, I jumped 

 aside for dear life and escaped by a hair's breadth the upward 

 thrust of the massive head with its wicked horns. The 

 charge of the heavy beast carried it some distance beyond 

 me, but bringing itself up with a jolt, it was soon nosing 

 around with every intention of delivering a second assault. 

 By this time, however, I had reloaded, and placing another 

 bullet in its shoulder, I was devoutly thankful to see the 

 beast lumber away showing every sign this time of being 

 vitally hit. When I had collected myself sufficiently to 



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