VIII 
THE LEOPARD 
303 
gave confidence. We again halted, to try the effect 
upon the herd. They merely looked up, and for the 
moment ceased feeding, but almost immediately one 
of the bucks made an unprovoked attack upon the 
other, apparently with the intention of driving it 
away from the females. Instead of retreating from 
the insult, the affronted buck at once returned to 
the encounter, and a tremendous fight was the 
immediate result, the two combatants charging each 
other like rams, and boring, first one, then the other 
backward, with the greatest fury. During this duel 
the herd of females stood entranced, as admiring 
spectators of the struggle. 
Not so our drivers, who, instead of their hitherto 
wary tactics, now prodded their bullocks with the 
sharp-pointed sticks, and drove at full trot straight 
towards the combatants. In this manner we gained 
a position within half a minute that we should per¬ 
haps never have obtained had the bucks remained 
in peaceful tempers; the females perceived the 
danger of our approach, and they started off, leap¬ 
ing in their usual manner many feet in the air per¬ 
pendicularly at every bound, leaving the two stupid 
males in the ecstasy of a mortal struggle. 
We reached a position within about 120 yards 
before the two fools observed us. They at once 
left off fighting, and having regarded us in astonish¬ 
ment for half a second, one dashed off to the left, 
and the other to the right, across the open plain 
devoid of bush, or ruts, or any obstacle to the 
highest speed. 
