although bleeding at the mouth, the distance was so short that she would
have been into me had I not stopped her with the four-ounce rifle, which
brought her to the ground when within fifteen paces; here she lay
disabled, but not dead, and again I reloaded as fast as possible.

The two remaining cows appeared to have taken a lesson from the fate of
their comrades; and showing no disposition to charge, I advanced towards
them to within twenty yards. One of the cows now commended tearing the
muddy ground with her horns, and thus offered a certain shot, which I
accordingly took, and dropped her dead with a ball in the nape of the
neck. This was too much for the remaining buffalo; she turned to plunge
into the lake, but the four-ounce through her shoulder brought her down
before she could reach the water, into which the three calves had
sprung, and were swimming for the main shore. I hit the last calf in the
head with a double-barrelled gun, and he immediately sank; and I missed
another calf with the left-hand barrel; therefore two escaped. I sent a
man into the water to find the dead calf, which he soon did, and hauled
it to the shore; and having reloaded, I proceeded to examine the hits on
the dead buffaloes. It was fortunate that I had reloaded; for I had no
sooner approached to within three or four yards of the cow that I had
left dying, when she suddenly sprang to her feet, and would have
charged, had I not killed her by a ball in the head from a light
double-barrel that I was then carrying. These animals had shown as good
sport as I had ever witnessed in buffalo-shooting, but the two heavy
rifles were fearful odds against them, and they were added to the list
of the slain. It was now late in the evening, and I had had a long day's
work in the broiling sun. I had bagged ten buffaloes, including the
calf, and having cut a fillet from the latter, I took a gun, loaded with
shot, from my horse-keeper, and gave up ball-shooting, having turned my
attention to a large flock of teal, which I had disturbed in attacking