Part 20 (2/2)
XXV THE BUFFALO-continued
Some months later, and many hundreds of miles farther south, Billy and I found ourselves alone with twenty men, and teeks to pass until C-our co journey out with a woundedback and forth, we landed in a valley so beautiful in every way that we resolved to stay as long as possible This could be but five days at ed rendezvous with C
The valley was in the shape of an ellipse, the sides of which were forreat clifflike mountains, and the other two by hills lower, but still of considerable boldness and size The longest radius was perhaps six or eight miles, and the shortest three or four At one end a canyon dropped away to a lower level, and at the other a pass in the hills gave over to the country of the Narassara River The nareatwater, that ran beneath the les, to unite finally in one main stream that disappeared down the canyon Between these brooks were low broad rolling hills, sorown thinly with bushes Where they headed in the ers of forest trees ran up to blocklike groves, apparently pasted like wafers against the base of the cliffs, but in reality occupying spacious slopes below therass slant within a hundred yards of the trees along one of the srass rising to a clear cut skyline; and all about us the distant great hills behind which the day dawned and fell One afternoon a herd of giraffes stood silhouetted on this skyline quite a half hour gazing curiously down on our cas; and i and steinbuck, and other aniht But principally we elected to stay because a herd of buffaloes ranged the foothills and dwelt in the groves of forest trees under the cliffs We wanted a buffalo; and as Lengeetoto is practically unknown to white et one In that I reckoned without the fact that at certain seasons the Masai bring their cattle in, and at such times annoy the buffalo all they can
We started out well enough I sent Memba Sasa with two er cale, crossed a loell, traversed another jungle, and got in touch with the other two men They reported the buffalo had entered the thicket a few hundred yards below us Cautiously reconnoitering the ground it soon became evident that ould be forced more definitely to locate the herd To be sure, they had entered the strea how far they ht continue in the thicket, nor on what side of it they would ee at sundown Therefore we cooing was very thick, naturally, and we could not see very far ahead Our object was not now to try for a bull, but , in order that we ht to a stand, in thesound of a beast grazing just the other side of a bush We could not see it, and we stood stock still in the hope of escaping discovery ourselves But an instant later a sudden crash of wood told us we had been seen It was near work The gunbearers crouched close to un ready If the beast had elected to charge I would have had less than ten yards within which to stop it Fortunately it did not do so But instantly the herd was afoot and off at full speed A loco pile could havecrashes than did those heavy anirowth We could see nothing Twice the rush started in our direction, but stopped as suddenly as it had begun, to be succeeded by absolute stillness when everything, ourselves included, held its breath to listen Finally, the first panic over, the herd started definitely away downstreale to a co position on the hill Thence we could determine the course of the herd
It continued on downstream as far as we could follow the sounds in the convolutions of the hills Realizing that it would ih froular habits that day, we returned to ca Meht We took no otherdisbeliever in the coh, in case the kill is made, to send back for help No , the chances of alarreatly increased by nu the plan of ca tiunbearer, a man can slip in and out a herd of for out after camp meat is of course a different matter
We did not follow in the direction taken by the herd the night before, but struck off toward the opposite side of the valley For two hours we searched the wooded country at the base of the cliffevery inlet, ravine and gully
Plenty of other sorts of ga elephant tracks not a half hour old; but no buffalo About eight o'clock, however, while looking through ht of so below the onally across the valley, and somewhat over three miles away We started in that direction as fast as we could walk At the end of an hour we sure of a steep drop Ih jungle over the tops of which we looked to a triangular gentle slope overgroith scattered bushes and high grass Beyond this again ran another jungle, angling up hill from the first, to end in a forest of trees about thirty or forty acres in extent This jungle and these trees were backed up against the slope of the rove: theyeither the trees or the lower jungle, and it seerass and bush area late in the afternoon Therefore Meood coainst rocks, and resigned ourselves to long patience It was now about nine o'clock in the ame to come out before half past three at earliest We could not, however, go away to coht take it into their heads to go travelling I had been fooled that way before For this reason, also, it was necessary, every five minutes or so, to exaht be slipping away through the cover
The hours passed very slowly Weas possible I had in my pocket a small edition of Hawthorne's ”The House of the Seven Gables,” which I read, pausing every few lasses for the periodical exa back froland to the actuality of wild Africa was a h the heat of the day the world lay absolutely silent At about half-past three, however, we heard rus and low bellows from the trees a half mile away I repocketed Hawthorne, and arousedtwo hours passed more slowly than all the rest of the day, for ere constantly on the lookout The buffaloes delayed ly reluctant to leave their deep cover The sun dropped behind the mountains, and their shadow colanced at ht left
Fifteenand ht below us, and perhaps five hundred yards away, four great black bodies fed leisurely from the bushes Three of them we could see plainly Tere bulls of fair size The fourth, half concealed in the brush, was by far the biggest of the lot
In order to reach them ould have to slip down the face of the hill on which we sat, cross the streale at the bottoe With a half hour ht this would have been comparatively easy, but in such circumstances it is difficult to move at the same time rapidly and unseen However, we decided to make the attempt To that end we disenculasses, etc-and wormed our way as rapidly as possible toward the bottom of the hill We utilized the cover as h of relief e had dropped below the line of the jungle We wasted very little tiainst noise Even in h and austere character, with the arching overhead vines, and the clear freedorowth in its heart
Across this cleared space we ran at full speed, crouching below the grasp of the vines, splashed across the brook and dashed up the other bank Only a faint glie we paused, collected ourselves, and pushed cautiously through the thick border-screen of bush
The twilight was just fading into dusk Of course we had taken our bearings fro ourselves of theh grass Our calculations were quite accurate We stalked successfully, and at last, drenched in sweat, found ourselves lying flat within ten yards of a small bush behind which we could est beast we had seen froh it was now practically dark, we had the game in our own hands
From our low position the anile sainst the sky, and at ten yards I should be able to place my heavy bullets properly, even in the dark Therefore, quite easy in our minds, we lay flat and rested At the end of twenty seconds the aniun, ready to press trigger the ainst the saffron sky e horns of a rhinoceros!
”Faru!” I whispered disgustedly to Memba Sasa With infinite pains we backed out, then retreated to a safe distance It was of course now too late to hunt up the three genuine buffaloes of this ill-assorted group
In fact our le before the afterglow had faded fro us in pitch darkness
I sent Memba Sasa across to pick up the effects we had left on the opposite ridge, while I myself struck directly across the flat toward caed ahead thus, for two or three hundred yards, when I was brought up short by the violent snort of a rhinoceros just off the starboard bow He was very close, but I was unable to locate hie of course cleared ain full speed when once more I was halted by another rhinoceros, this ti to back away froh this were not enough a fourth opened up to the left
It was absolutely i ten yards away unless it happened to be silhouetted against the sky I backed cautiously toward a little bush, with a vague idea of having soe around
As the old hunter said when, unar, even a newspaper, would have coainst a conical ant hill four or five feet high This I ascended and began anti-rhino demonstrations I had no tih that jungle before the leopards left their family circles I hurled clods of earth and opprobrious shouts and epithets in the four directions of ht I counted four reluctant departures Then, with considerable doubt, I descended frorass huressing in a gratifyingly rhinoless condition Five h the jungle Shortly after I raised the caot hoht variation, of this experience, ht ere only in tily on the other side of the cover, nointo the dense jungle And always they eed so late and so far away that our very best efforts failed to get us near thein always so narroever, that our hopes were alive
On the fourth day, which eetoto, we found that the herd had shi+fted to fresh cover threethe base of the mountains We had no faith in those buffaloes, but about half-past three we sallied forth dutifully and took position on a hill overlooking the new hiding place This consisted of a wide grove of forest trees varied by occasional open glades and er e to hat had by now developed into a contest that I refused to shoot a lioness with a three-quarters-grown cub that appeared within easy shot from some reeds below us
Tih an opening into one of the s slowly but steadily frolimpse was only momentary, but it was sufficient to indicate the direction froe Therefore we ran at top speed down frole at its foot, and hastily, but with h the scattered groves and high grass