from his jaws, I twisted it with all my force. The great brute bellowed
with pain and fury, and jerked himself backwards so strongly, that he
dragged me some inches further from the mouth of the hole, and again
made a sweep at me, catching me this time round the shoulder-joint in
the hook of his horn.

"I felt that it was all up now, and began to holloa.

"'He has got me!' I shouted in mortal terror. '_Gwasa, Mashune, gwasa!_'
('Stab, Mashune, stab!').

"One hoist of the great head, and out of the hole I came like a
periwinkle out of his shell. But even as I did so, I caught sight of
Mashune's stalwart form advancing with his 'bangwan,' or broad stabbing
assegai, raised above his head. In another quarter of a second I had
fallen from the horn, and heard the blow of the spear, followed by
the indescribable sound of steel shearing its way through flesh. I had
fallen on my back, and, looking up, I saw that the gallant Mashune had
driven the assegai a foot or more into the carcass of the buffalo, and
was turning to fly.

"Alas! it was too late. Bellowing madly, and spouting blood from mouth
and nostrils, the devilish brute was on him, and had thrown him up like
a feather, and then gored him twice as he lay. I struggled up with some
wild idea of affording help, but before I had gone a step the buffalo
gave one long sighing bellow, and rolled over dead by the side of his
victim.

"Mashune was still living, but a single glance at him told me that his
hour had come. The buffalo's horn had driven a great hole in his right