A BUFFALO-HUNT BY THE KAMITI 141 
toward them, when one of them made us out, and several 
rose from their beds. They were still at least two hundred 
yards off—a long range for heavy rifles; but any closer 
approach was impossible, and we fired. Both the leading 
bulls were hit, and at the shots there rose from the grass not 
half a dozen buffalo, but seventy or eighty, and started at a 
gallop parallel to the swamp and across our front. In the 
rear were a number of cows and calves, and I at once sin¬ 
gled out a cow and fired. She plunged forward at the shot 
and turned toward the swamp, going slowly and dead lame, 
for my bullet had struck the shoulder and had gone into the 
cavity of the chest. But at this moment our attention was 
distracted from the wounded cow by the conduct of the 
herd, which, headed by the wounded bulls, turned in a 
quarter-circle toward us, and drew up in a phalanx facing 
us with outstretched heads. It was not a nice country in 
which to be charged by the herd, and for a moment things 
trembled in the balance. There was a perceptible motion 
of uneasiness among some of our followers. Stand steady! 
Don’t run!” I called out. ‘‘And don’t shoot!” called out 
Cuninghame; for to do either would invite a charge. A few 
seconds passed, and then the unwounded mass of the herd 
resumed their flight, and after a little hesitation the wounded 
bulls followed. We now turned our attention to the wounded 
cow, which was close to the papyrus. She went down to 
our shots, but the reeds and marsh-grass were above our 
heads when we drew close to the swamp. Once again 
Heatley went in with his white horse, as close as it was even 
reasonably safe, with the hope either of seeing the cow, 
or of getting her to charge him and so give us a fair chance 
at her. But nothing happened and we loosed the two dogs. 
