ADVENTURE WITH BUFFALO 91 



in the five feet of grass and of being out of reach of 

 its horns, suddenly shouted, " Nantsi inyati! ' (* There's 

 a buffalo ! ') We just caught a glimpse of its mas- 

 sive horns and back as it made off, and fired, but without 

 success. For nearly two miles we followed the hardy 

 old bull, at a run whenever we could see him or knew 

 exactly where he was, and at a slow and cautious pace 

 when he happened to be in long grass and out of 

 sight, firing whenever we got a chance. 



At last Prinsloo evidently hit him hard, for after 

 going through a narrow but deep and grassy swamp 

 the brute halted in front of a dense patch of reeds and 

 grass in a donga and faced round. I was attempting 

 just then to cross the swamp lower down, and managed 

 to get a good chance at his shoulder at about two 

 hundred yards. He dropped to the shot, but was 

 up again in a moment and dashed into the reeds. 

 Crossing the vley by the track just opened up, I went 

 to the farther side of the donga to a small hollow on 

 the edge of it, in which a dense mass of reeds, rushes, 

 and grass grew, and threw in several clods of mud 

 to try to dislodge him ; but as no movement followed 

 the splashes of the water and mud, I felt sure that 

 my last shot had been fatal. So I entered the reeds 

 on the spoor, closely followed by Prinsloo, carrying 

 my old Gibbs -450 rifle at full-cock. Jantje and the 

 other boy remained on the elevated ground above the 

 donga. For about six yards we advanced, with tall, 

 blood-besprinkled reeds on either side of the spoor, 

 and then found ourselves on slightly more open ground 

 on the sloping bank of the donga. At the foot of 

 the bank there was some muddy water, through which 

 the buffalo had passed, and just beyond there was a 

 screen of reeds. 



