ral having satisfied himself that his boy was not hurt, sent him
forward with a cuff on the ear, before giving his master a grateful look
for destroying a virulently poisonous serpent--one, he assured them,
whose regular practice was to hang suspended by the tail from some low
branch, and in this position to strike at any living creature that
passed beneath.

"He would have been dead now," said the General, "if the snake's teeth
had gone through his hair."

It was with no little satisfaction then, after this adventure, that the
hunting-party passed through the woody region they were then in, and
came into the open, for during the last few hours everybody's eyes had
been diligently directed at the overhanging branches of the trees, Dinny
being so observant that he two or three times tripped over prostrate
boughs, and went down upon his nose.

As they passed out into the open they were in a rough plain, covered as
far as they could see with coarse herbage; and hardly had the waggon
emerged before Mr Rogers, who was using his glass, drew the General's
attention to some dark objects upon a slope some distance ahead.

The Zulu glanced at the dark shapes for a few moments, and then cried
eagerly,--

"Buffalo!"

"Come along, Dick," shouted Jack.

"Stop, stop!" exclaimed their father. "What are you going to do?"

"Shoot a buffalo, father."

"If we can," added Dick.

"But you must be careful. These buffalo are pretty fierce creatures,
and dangerous at times."

"Yes, very dangerous," assented the Zulu. "Boss Jack--Boss Dick shoot
one, and the boys drive one to him."

The General undertaking to do his best to keep his sons out of danger,
Mr Rogers consented to let them go; and soon afterwards, having made
his plans, the General started off with his boys, pointing out a course
for Jack and Dick to take upon their cobs, advising them both to fire at
the same buffalo as it galloped past them, and then to keep hidden till
the herd had gone by.

This they undertook to do; and away they cantered in one direction, the
General and his boys going in another, so as to get ahead of the herd,
and then show themselves, and that, they expected, would drive them
towards the young hunters.

All turned out exactly as anticipated. Dick and Jack sat like statues,
in a low hollow, with rifles cocked, and cartridges handy for a second
shot, waiting for the coming of the herd; and at last, just as they had
given up all expectatio