409 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XIV 
Bidwill and I climbed two small trees on its edge, and 
raised our heads only above the level of the wood. 
Three hundred yards from us, on the little terrace 
which I have before mentioned, we saw about thirty 
head of cattle. Some were lying down, others stand- 
ing up ; and all apparently enjoying the warmth of 
the setting sun. We instantly popped down our 
heads, and told what we had seen to the rest of the 
party. Entering th6 gully at different points, we 
crossed it as quickly as we could without noise, and 
met on the clear ridge. But the herd was gone, and 
no one had seen a sign of a single head. 'Ihey pro- 
bably smelt us, as we were to windward of them ; 
although we had hoped that the flickering puffs and 
intervening pauses into which the breeze had died 
away as the sun sank, would not have served to carry 
any sign so far. 
The next day we made a more successful attempt. 
A brother of Captain Lewis got the first shot, at a 
young cow which ran past him at the distance of a 
hundred yards ; but the ball only grazed her between 
the horns, and she was soon out of shot. Our pack of 
natives, of whom we had engaged a much larger num- 
ber to-day, were now for some time at fault. We had 
assembled very near the spot from which we saw the 
herd on the preceding evening, to eat a mid-day meal, 
when a native crept cautiously out of the gully, and 
signed to us to follow him in silence. He then guided 
us to within fifty yards of three head of cattle, which 
were quietly chewing the cud near the rill in the 
bottom of the gully. Lewis, Mr. Bidwill, and I then 
aimed at one each, and tired together. Mine, severely 
wounded in the flank, took up the gully, and the 
other two in the contrary direction. By retracing my 
steps to the clearing above, I now commanded the 
