In the Wilds of AfricaKingston, William Henry Giles
General
In the Wilds of Africa
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Africa -- Juvenile fiction
report of the gun, half-a-dozen superb male buffaloes sprang to their
feet, and, tossing their heads, sniffed the air for a few seconds, and
darted off through the wood. My companion and I immediately descended
the tree and I made chase in the hopes of coming up with them by
following their tracks. We proceeded for some little way along the
borders of the forest, when Mango stopping, pointed ahead, and I saw a
vast herd of buffaloes--there might have been nearly three hundred of
them--suddenly rushing out of the wood, overthrowing and stamping down
every object they met with in their headlong course. We rushed back
towards the wood, where alone we could hope for safety. A portion of it
projected some way at an angle from that part whence the buffaloes had
issued. They espied us, however, and came tearing on across the open.
We dashed in among the underwood, but before we had got far they were at
our heels. Two savage brutes led the way. The horns of the first were
almost into poor Mango. A tree with low branches was near me. It would
afford us the only prospect of safety. Had I stopped for a moment to
fire, it would have been too late, and it might not have served to turn
them in their course. I sprang to the tree, helping up the boy, who had
barely time to get out of the way of the leader's horns, when the herd
rushed by us. I turned round and fired, but having to cling to the
tree, I had great difficulty in taking aim. The effect of the report
was to bring the whole herd to a halt, and, facing round, they
confronted us in one dark and formidable phalanx, as if they had
resolved to besiege us in our tree. I remembered the way you, Andrew,
had been caught by the elephant, and I fancied that the buffaloes were
about to treat us in the same manner. One or two buffaloes might have
been disposed of, but we had not ammunition sufficient to kill one half
of our assailants, even should each bullet lay one low. They kept
looking at us with savage glances, as if determined to punish us for our
audacity. They looked, indeed, as if they could very easily have
brought the tree in which we were perched down to the ground; and so
they might, if they had known how to do it. I, however, resolved to try
the effect of a few shots. I fired one, and felt sure I had hit the
animal--a large bull--but he did not move. Again and again I fired,
but, strange as it may seem, neither he nor any of the herd moved a
foot, though they eyed me and my companion all the time with an ominous
look, as if resolving how they should treat us. Every moment I expected
them to charge. Suddenly, as I was about to fire for the fourth or
fifth time, the whole herd, wheeling about with a curious shriek rather
than a bellow, their heads lowered to the ground, and their tails
swishing to and fro vehemently over their backs, off they set at a
furious pace, which made the very ground tremble under their feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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