Horns 



drops. They were all grazing, and had I not 

 naturally wished to bag the bull, I could have 

 dropped one of the cows in her tracks. 



The bull was, as I have said, to the right, 

 and it became necessary to execute a movement 

 to the rear if I wanted to get a shot at him. 



How I longed for a pony to ride the fine old 

 fellow down instead of thus tamely plugging 

 him! The country, though black cotton soil, 

 was quite rideable if one did not mind chancing 

 a spill or two, and provided one goes hard 

 enough at first so as to press and pump the 

 animal, he is fairly easily ridden to a stand- 

 still. I was thinking this as, after executing a 

 flanking movement, I cautiously pushed my head 

 up over the rise. Yes, there was the bull, but 

 he was on the qui vive. 



Why, I could not say. And there was a cow 

 advancing towards the top of the dip ; she 

 must have moved forward after I had started on 

 my flank movement. Perhaps that seventh 

 sense which is never asleep in the wild animal 

 troubled her. Whatever the cause, I was too 

 late ! The cow, before topping the ridge, squealed, 

 and the old bull was off into the patch of forest 

 before I could get anything like a sight upon him. 



The cows went away to the left, and in a 

 few strides dropped into their lumbering trot 

 and fell into single file, which appears to be an 

 invariable habit of theirs. In a sauve qui peut 



189 



