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The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon by Sir Samuel White Baker
page 48 of 283 (16%)
right-hand barrel, and tearing off a piece of my shirt, I took all the
money from my pouch, three shillings in sixpenny pieces, and two anna
pieces, which I luckily had with me in this small coin for paying
coolies. Quickly making them into a rouleau with the piece of rag, I
rammed them down the barrel, and they were hardly well home before the
bull again sprang forward. So quick was it that I had no time to replace
the ramrod, and I threw it in the water, bringing my gun on full cock in
the same instant. However, he again halted, being now within about seven
paces from me, and we again gazed fixedly at each other, but with
altered feelings on my part. I had faced him hopelessly with an empty
gun for more than a quarter of an hour, which seemed a century. I now
had a charge in my gun, which I knew if reserved till he was within a
foot of the muzzle would certainly floor him, and I awaited his onset
with comparative carelessness, still keeping my eyes opposed to his
gaze.

At this time I heard a splashing in the water behind me, accompanied by
the hard breathing of something evidently distressed. The next moment I
heard B.'s voice. He could hardly speak for want of breath, having run
the whole way to my rescue, but I could understand that he had only one
barrel loaded, and no bullets left. I dared not turn my face from the
buffalo, but I cautioned B. to reserve his fire till the bull should be
close into me, and then to aim at the head.

The words were hardly uttered, when, with the concentrated rage of the
last twenty minutes, he rushed straight at me! It was the work of an
instant. B. fired without effect. The horns were lowered, their points
were on either side of me, and the muzzle of the gun barely touched his
forehead when I pulled the trigger, and three shillings' worth of small
change rattled into his hard head. Down he went, and rolled over with
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