y'll turn and charge if you've run 'em a long way. You want to look
out, I tell you. They'll wheel very sudden, and if they ketch your horse
they'll grind him into pulp. Ben, my mate here, had a horse killed under
him last week--horse we gave five and twenty quid for, and that's a
long shot for a buffalo horse. I believe in Injia they shoot 'em off
elephants, but that's 'cause they won't come out in the open like they
do here. There's hundreds of toffs in England and Injia'd give their
ears for a day after these, you know. Hello! Look! See there!"

Far away out on the plain Hugh saw fifteen or twenty bluish-grey mounds
in a line rising above the grass; it was a herd of buffalo feeding.
The animals never lifted their heads, and were curiously like a lot of
railway trucks covered with grey tarpaulin. It was impossible to tell
which was head and which was tail. A short halt was made while girths
were tightened, cartridges slipped into place, and hats jammed on; they
all mounted and rode slowly towards the herd, which was at least half a
mile off, and still feeding steadily. Everyone kept his horse in hand,
ready for a dash the moment the mob lifted their heads.

"How fast will they go?" whispered Hugh to the nearest shooter.

"Fast as blazes. You've no idea how fast they are. They're the biggest
take-in there is. When they lift their heads they'll stare for half a
minute, and then they'll run. The moment they start, off you go. Watch
'em! There's one sees us! Keep steady yet--don't rush till they start."

One of the blue mounds lifted a huge black-muzzled head, decorated with
an enormous pair of sickle-shaped horns that stretched right back to
the shoulders. He stared with great sullen eyes and trotted a few paces
towards them; one after another, the rest lifted their heads and stared
too. Closer drew the horsemen at their steady, silent jog, the horses
pricking their ears and getting on their toes as race-horses do at the
start of a race.

"Be ready," said the shooter. "Now!"

The mob, with one impulse, wheeled, and set off at a heavy lumbering
gallop, and the horses dashed in full gallop after them. It was a ride
worth a year of a man's life. Every man sat down to his work like a
jockey finishing a race, and the big stock horses went through the long
grass like hawks swooping down on a flock of pigeons. The men carried
their carbines loaded, holding them straight up over the shoulder so as
to lessen the jerking of t