FOLLOWING THE BULL. 257 



The leading animals were all cows or young buUs ; two fine black bulls, 

 a perfect pair, brought up the rear. I waited to see if there were any better 

 ones to come, but as there were not I gave the last a ball through his ribs, 

 but rather too far back ; and with a second shot, broke his off hind-leg 

 at the hock-joint, in which I afterwards found the ball sticking, though 

 fired with such a large charge of powder. He kept on, and I sank down 

 too tired to give chase, my ears singing through weakness and the heavy- 

 discharge of the rifle. The trackers followed the bull for about a mile, 

 when they rejoined us, and we returned to camp. As he was on three legs 

 we felt certain of finding him in the morning, even if the body-shot did not 

 kill him before that time. 



Next morning I felt comparatively well again ; I had slept soundly all 

 night, and felt strong enough to walk some distance. It is astonishing 

 how quickly the feeling of languor induced by fever and ague frequently 

 leaves one. 



We took up the bull's tracks from where the Sholagas had left them 

 last evening. Further on he had left the herd and lain down by himself — a 

 good sign. We followed fast till we got to a suspicious patch of long grass, in 

 a dip, and one of the trackers climbed a few feet up a small tree to see into 

 it ; at least he walked up the tree with his hands and feet, as natives do not 

 climb as we do. I have often astonished jungle-men by swarming up trees 

 which, owing to their being thick and smooth, and offering no foot-hold, 

 they could not themselves climb. One of my elephant-hunting Kurrabas 

 once said, " We have often thought what was to become of Budhi (the In- 

 carnation of Wisdom — myseK !) if an elephant chased us ; but we see it is 

 we who will have to look out for ourselves, not our lord ! " 



The tracker immediately signed that the bull was lying down in the 

 grass, and at this moment he jumped to his feet a few yards off. I could 

 only see the tips of his horns, and he could not make us out. No one 

 stirred, or he would doubtless have charged, being so close, and in a few 

 seconds he turned and made off. It was fortunate he did not charge the 

 sapling the tracker was on ; had he done so, the latter would have been shot 

 out of it like an arrow from a bow. 



The bull now took to some elephant-paths, but the grass was short, so 

 we could follow without wasting time in precautions. In going down a 

 hillside one tracker stepped aside and thrust his arm into a hole in a tree, 

 from which, amidst a swarm of small bees, he drew several pieces of honey- 

 comb in layers ; these he broke up and we all ate some, and left the rest on 

 our track for the men who were following with ropes, &c. At last we 

 caught up the bull in a fine open wood ; he was about sixty yards away, 



R 



