240 
THE AFRICAN BUFFALO. 
covert of the bushes, approached the game with such 
advantage, that the first volley brought down three of 
the fattest of the herd, and so severely wounded the 
great bull leader, that he dropped on his knees, bel- 
lowing furiously. Thinking him mortally wounded, 
the foremost of the Imntsmen issued from the covert, 
and began reloading his musket as he advanced to 
give him a finishing shot ; but no sooner did the in- 
furiated animal see his foe in front of him, than he 
sprang up and rushed headlong upon him. The 
man throwing down his heavy gun, fled towards the 
quagmire ; but the beast was so close upon him, that 
he despaired of escaping in that direction, and turn- 
ing suddenly round a clump of copse wood, began 
to climb an old mimosa tree which stood at the one 
side of it. The raging beast, however, was too quick 
for him, bounding forward with a roar, which my 
informant described as being one of the most fright- 
ful sounds he ever heard ; he caught the unfortunate 
man with his terrible liorns, just as he had nearly 
escaped his reach, and tossed him into the air with 
such force, that the body fell dreadfully mangled in- 
to a cleft of the tree. The buffalo ran round the 
tree once or twice, apparently looking for the man, 
until weakened with the loss of blood, he again sunk 
on his knees. The rest of the party recovering from 
their confusion, then came up and dispatched him, 
though too late to save their comrade, whose body 
was hanging in the tree quite dead.”* 
* Pringle's African Sketches, p. 271. 
