FOUR DAYS 125 



200 yards from me, and was moving through 

 the grass. " The nearest one is a bull/' whispered 

 Shama ; and, having full confidence in his eye- 

 sight, I took aim and fired. As it afterwards 

 appeared, I made a bad but very lucky shot, 

 hitting the bison, which was broadside on, far 

 back on the near hind-leg and fracturing the 

 bone near the hip. The bison disappeared in 

 the grass on the right of a long line of trees, 

 and I hurried along the left of the trees to see if 

 I could get another shot, opening the rifle to 

 reload as I went. On clearing the trees, I saw 

 the head and shoulders of a fine bison appearing 

 above the grass, which was high enough to cover 

 his body. The distance was about 150 yards, 

 and the animal was nearly broadside on, but 

 was on slightly lower ground. I, of course, 

 thought it was the wounded bison, though even 

 at that moment it struck, me that the attitude 

 was not that of a wounded animal. The bison 

 had not, in fact, seen what had happened to his 

 comrades, and was looking about to see from 

 which direction danger threatened. I closed the 

 rifle, took a hurried aim, and pulled the wrong 

 trigger, the right barrel being empty, as I had 

 not had time to insert another cartridge. The 

 miss-fire pulled me together, and, taking a steady 

 aim at the animal's shoulder, I fired the second 

 barrel, and the bison disappeared. We advanced 

 cautiously, Kana displaying a prodigious respect 

 for wounded bison generally ; and on arrival at 

 the spot we found him lying on the grass. He 

 was dying, but was still breathing; and, to put 

 him out of his suffering, I fired another bullet 



