Part 20 (1/2)

s the forest Then abruptly a complete silence! This lasts but ten seconds or so; then off rushes the wild sta halt of breathless stillness So the hunter, unable to see anything, and feeling very sroup, listening to the wild surging short rushes, now this way, now that, hoping that the stampede may not run over him If by chance it does, he has his two shots and the possibility of hugging a tree while the rush divides around hile buffalo is hard enough to stop with two shots, let alone a herd And yet, sometimes, the mere flash and noise will suffice to turn the to attack, but only rushi+ng indefinitely about Probably ain one of the sle while several hundred tons of buffalo crash back and forth all around him

In the best of circu bull, the hunter can deliver a knockdown blow The beast is extraordinarily vital, and in addition it is exceedingly difficult to get a fair, open shot Then fro trampled down by the blind and senseless stampede of the herd he passes to the le ani buffaloes happen while folloounded beasts A flank charge at close range may catch the most experienced man; and even when clearly seen, it is difficult to stop The buffalo's wide bosses are a helmet to his brain, and the body shot is always chancy The beast tosses his victiainst a tree to crush hiet his trophy, however, is not always-perhaps is not generally-forced into the thicket to get it When notout into the open just before dark; and of returning to their thicket cover only well after sunrise

If the hunter can arrange to ood chance of getting a clear shot The job then requires er, outside the ever-present one froe over hiht

The difficulty generally is to locate your beasts They wander all night, andbefore they have drifted back into the thickets So skilled trackers in several directions, they can be traced to where they have entered cover A s the white uess at what spot the buffaloes are likely to e stroll It is reht is rarely sufficient to repair aa wide country withholes, it is rather difficult, without very good luck, to locate the A few herds, a very few,

These difficulties, while in no way forh in their small way; but they are immensely increased when the herds have been often disturbed Disturbance need not necessarilyIn countries unvisited by white men often the pastoral natives will so annoy the buffalo by shoutings and other e beasts will come practically nocturnal In that case only the rankest luck will avail to get ato cover until after sundown and just at dusk; and they return again very soon after the first streaks of dawn If the hunter just happens to be at the exact spot, heivory of his front sight is barely visible Otherwise he o into the thicket

As an illustration of the first condition ht be instanced an afternoon on the Tana The weather was very hot We had sent three lots of men out in different directions, each under the leadershi+p of one of the gunbearers, to scout, while we took it easy in the shade of our banda, or grass shelter, on the bank of the river About one o'clock athat the -down place We took our heavy guns and started

The way led through thin scrub up the long slope of a hill that broke on the other side into undulating grass ridges that ended in a range of hills These were about four or five miles distant, and thinly wooded on sides and lower slopes hat reseuide told us, the buffalo had first been sighted

The sun was very hot, and all the aniiraffes and bucks on the plains After an hour and a half's e entered the parklike groves at the foot of the hills, and our guide began to proceed more cautiously He moved forward a few feet, peered about, retraced his steps Suddenly his face broke into a broad grin Following his indication we looked up, and there in a tree almost above us roosted one of our boys sound asleep! We whistled at him Thereupon he awoke, tried to look very alert, and pointed in the direction we should go After an interval we picked up another sentinel, and another, and another until, passed on thus from one to the next, we traced the movements of the herd Finally we came upon Mavrouki and Simba under a bush From them, in whispers, we learned that the buffalo were karibu sana-very near; that they had fed this far, and were now lying in the long grass just ahead Leaving the men,continued our forward le file It was very hot work, for the sun beat square down on us, and the tall grass kept off every breath of air Every fewon our faces

Occasionally, when the grass shortened, or the slant of ground tended to expose us, we lay quite flat and hitched forward an inch at a tith of our toes This was very severe work indeed, and ere drenched in perspiration In fact, as I had been feeling quite ill all day, it became rather doubtful whether I could stand the pace

However after a while we ed to drop down into an eroded deep little ravine Here the air was like that of a furnace, but at least we could walk upright for a few rods This we did, with theof a twig or the rolling of a pebble Then we clambered to the top of the bank, wormed our way forward another fifty feet to the shelter of a tiny bush, and stretched out to recuperate We lay there some time, sheltered from the sun Then ahead of us suddenly rumbled a deep bellow We were fairly upon the herd!

Cautiously F, as nearest the centre of the bush, raised hiside the ste, not fifty yards away, but he couldtheir ease in the grass under the shade of trees So ain to keep watch

Thus aited the rest of the afternoon The sun dipped at last toward the west, a faint irregular breeze wandered down from the hills, certain birds awoke and uttered their clear calls, an unsuspected kongoni stepped frorass, the shadoere lengthening through the trees Then ahead of us an uneasiness ran through the herd We in the grass could hear the reat aniers, stooped low and darted forward We scrambled to our feet and followed

Across a short open space we ran, bent double to the shelter of a big ant hill Peering over the top of this we found ourselves within sixty yards of a long co forward orderly to the left, the points of the cow's horns, curved up and in, tossing slowly as the aniray bull

It had been agreed that B was to have the shot Therefore he opened fire with his 405 Winchester, a weapon altogether too light for this sort of work At the shot the herd dashed forward to an open grass meadow a few rods aheeled and faced back in a compact mass, their noses thrust up and out in their typical fashi+on, trying with all their senses to locate the cause of the disturbance

Taking advantage both of the scattered cover, and the half light of the shadoe slipped forward as rapidly and as unobtrusively as we could to the edge of the grass hty yards from the buffaloes They stood co their heads,for us

I saw several good bulls, but always they etting the wrong beast Finally my chance came; I planted a pair of Holland bullets in the shoulder of one of the past us at close range My bull ran thirty yards with them, then went down stone dead When we examined him we found the hole made by B's Winchester bullet; so that quite unintentionally and by accident I had fired at the same beast

This was lucky The trophy, by hunter's law, of course, belonged to B

Therefore F and I alone followed on after the herd It was now coan to see scattered beasts The forht, while others in sroups would stop to stare back, and would thenthese Ius about a hundred and twenty-five yards away, andhim down

Now occurred an incident which I should hesitate to relate were it not that both F and myself saw it We have since talked it over, compared our recollections, and found them to coincide in every particular

As weherd three cows broke back and ca down past us We ducked aside and hid, of course, but noticed that of the three tere very young, while one was so old that she had beco with buffaloes We then followed the herd for twenty ht, e turned back About halfway down the slope we againThey passed us within twenty yards, but paid us no attention whatever The old coas co back at every step, and every once in a while swinging her head viciously at one or the other of her two companions These escorted her on either side, and a little to the rear They were plainly urging her forward, and did not hesitate to dig her in the ribs with their horns whenever she turned especially obstinate In fact they acted exactly like a pair of cowboys HERDING a recalcitrant animal back to its band and I have no doubt at all that when they first by us the old lady wasdirection, AND THAT THE TWO YOUNGER COWS WERE TRYING TO ROUND HER BACK! Whether they were her daughters or not is proble care of her and trying to prevent her running back where it was dangerous to go I never heard of a sih Herbert Ward mentions, without particulars that elephants AND BUFFALOES will assist each other WHEN WOUNDED

A Voice fro these we returned to where B and the men, who had now come up, had prepared the dead bull for transportation We started at once, travelling by the stars, shouting and singing to discourage the lions, but did not reach caht