hat he has
stalked cows or small bulls. Then inch by inch he must back out again,
unable to see twenty yards to either side, guiding himself by the
probabilities of the faint chance breezes in the thicket. To right and
left he hears the quiet continued crop, crop, crop, sound of animals
grazing. The sweat runs down his face in streams, and blinds his eyes,
but only occasionally and with the utmost caution can he raise his
hand-or, better, lower his head-to clear his vision. When at last he has
withdrawn from the danger zone, he wipes his face, takes a drink from
the canteen, and tries again. Sooner or later his presence comes to the
notice of some old cow. Behind the leafy screen where unsuspected she
has been standing comes the most unexpected and heart-jumping crash!
Instantly the jungle all about roars into life. The great bodies of the
alarmed beasts hurl themselves through the thicket, smash! bang! crash!
smash! as though a tornado were uprooting the forest. Then abruptly a
complete silence! This lasts but ten seconds or so; then off rushes the
wild stampede in another direction; only again to come to a listening
halt of breathless stillness. So the hunter, unable to see anything,
and feeling very small, huddles with his gunbearers in a compact group,
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 him. The latter is the most likely; a single 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 them, provided
they are not actually trying to attack, but only rushing indefinitely
about. Probably a man can experience few more thrilling moments than he
will enjoy standing in one of the small leafy rooms of an African jungle
while several hundred tons of buffalo crash back and forth all around
him.

In the best of circumstances it is only rarely that having identified
his big 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 from the danger of being trampled down
by the blind and senseless stampede of the herd he passes to the more
defined peril from an angered and cunning single animal. The majority of
fatalities in hunting buffaloes happen while following wound