like to be put out of his miseries. Taking compassion, I
levelled my Blisset; but, as bad luck would have it, a bough
intercepted the flight of the bullet, and it went "pinging" into
the air, whilst the big bull went off at a gallop. To follow on
was no difficulty, the spoor was so good; and in ten minutes
more, as I opened on a small clearance, Blisset in hand, the
great beast, from the thicket on the opposite side, charged down
like a mad bull, full of ferocity--as ugly an antagonist as ever
I saw, for the front of his head was all shielded with horn. A
small mound fortunately stood between us, and as he rounded it, I
jumped to one side and let fly at his flank, but without the
effect of stopping him; for, as quick as thought, the huge
monster was at my feet, battling with the impalpable smoke of my
gun, which fortunately hung so thick on the ground at the height
of his head that he could not see me, though I was so close that
I might, had I been possessed of a hatchet, have chopped off his
head. This was a predicament which looked very ugly, for my boys
had both bolted, taking with them my guns; but suddenly the
beast, evidently regarding the smoke as a phantom which could not
be mastered, turned round in a bustle, to my intense relief, and
galloped off at full speed, as if scared by some terrible
apparition.

O what would I not then have given for a gun, the chance was such
a good one! Still, angry though I was, I could not help laughing
as the dastardly boys came into the clearance full of their
mimicry, and joked over the scene they had witnessed in security,
whilst my life was in jeopardy because they were too frightened
to give me my gun. But now came the worst part of the day; for,
though rain was falling, I had not the heart to relinquish my