ADVENTURE WITH A BUFFALO. 83 close to them without being aware of their presence. If we wounded buffaloes in the open, they would almost invariably make for it, when it was of course extremely dangerous to follow them, as, by so doing, one might receive a charge at close quarters. In fact, the grass was often so thick that it was quite possible to get within a yard or two of a buffalo without seeing anything of him. An instance of this occurred to my brother and myself when shooting in the Bogos country on the borders of the Dembelas territory the previous winter.

It was the first time any of us had seen these animals, and we had wounded two ; one of these made for the open, while the other had taken to the high grass ; this one we followed by its blood-tracks until we reached the edge of the grass into which they led. During our pursuit, and before arriving at this covert, we had once or twice caught a glimpse of it disappearing among the thick trees that grew in that part ; but as it went off at a gallop on our approach, we soon lost sight of it again. We were debating whether we should follow it, when, without giving us much time to think, the infuriated beast rushed out of the grass, and charged straight at my brother.

The grass was so high that neither of us had seen it until we were close upon it. We were standing side by side when the buffalo charged my brother ; and as he could not see the beast until it was within four or five feet of him, he had to fire in such a hurry that he barely had time to raise his rifle to his shoulder. His bullet struck the animal's horn, which turned the brute sharply round to the right, and it disappeared into the grass again. I fired after it as it was disappearing. After this we concluded that we would not attempt to follow it farther, but try and drive it out. This grass formed a belt from fifty to a hundred yards