94 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



their respective gun-bearers, to shoot buffalo in the 

 forests where we had on several occasions found them. 

 Soon after crossing the Manzibomvu they struck the 

 fresh spoor of about twenty buffaloes in a patch of 

 green grass, and after an hour's careful tracking, got 

 up to them in the heart of a dense bush on the slopes 

 of the mountain. 



Crawling on hands and knees, and taking advantage 

 of every little tuft of grass or tree-stem, Cecil Emmett 

 presently made out the head and shoulders of a large 

 bull, and fired, aiming carefully with his long Martini - 

 Henry at the left shoulder. The ounce of lead struck 

 it with a dull thud, but when the smoke lifted the 

 buffaloes were out of sight. Following in the wake 

 of the herd, and guided by the sounds of breaking 

 branches as it rushed through the bush, he saw some 

 blood on a twig ; a dozen yards farther he noticed 

 that the wounded buffalo had turned away from 

 the herd, and after crossing an open glade entered 

 a thick clump of trees. The bush into which it had 

 retreated was dense but patchy ; round the trunks of 

 the tall trees the wacht-een-beetje doom and many 

 other climbing and dense spreading shrubs clustered, 

 but here and there was an open glade covered with 

 green buffalo grass. Emmett and Cameron advanced 

 hurriedly and rather carelessly from different direc- 

 tions, each of them eager to give the bull its quietus. 

 Polly was walking in front of Cameron, who was armed 

 with a '450 single express rifle. Just as they reach< 

 one of the open spots he warned Cameron that th( 

 were approaching the buffalo too carelessly, and tl 

 one of them would be hurt. He had hardly finish* 

 speaking when there was a short, sharp bellow and 



