After a time he recovered his rifle and again attacked a cow which he thought was his late assailant, and killed her with two more shots, but she proved to be a different beast. Selous did not escape quite scatheless from this encounter, for his eye was badly bruised and the skin all rubbed off the right breast. His horse, too, was badly injured, though he recovered after two months. Altogether, on this great and exciting day, no fewer than twenty-two elephants, realizing 700 lbs. of ivory, were killed by Selous, Clarkson, and Wood. On September 24th the hunters killed five old bull elephants near the Hanyane, and shortly afterwards, elephants becoming shy, the party broke up, Cross, Goulden, and Wood going to the Umfule, and Clarkson and Selous remaining near the Hanyane. Both parties were, however, quite unsuccessful in hunting bull elephants, either in the neighbourhood of these rivers or in short trips they made into the "fly" region along the Umniati, Sebakwe, and Se-quoi-quoi rivers. After enjoying some sport with the various large antelopes and witnessing an exciting chase and attack made by a single hunting-dog on a sable antelope, the party turned northwards and reached Gwenia, where the Viljoens were camped, on December 11th, just as the heavy rains set in. Here Selous had a piece of good luck. A lioness attacked the Viljoens' cattle at ten o'clock one morning and went off with a calf. The dogs, however, were at once loosed, and soon brought the marauder to bay. Jantje, a Hottentot, and one of the Viljoens' Kafirs ran at once to the scene of tumult, when both of them fired and missed, but Selous got an easy chance at forty yards, and killed her with a bullet through the shoulders. On December 25th he wrote to his mother telling her that his plans for the following year were uncertain. He hoped to go "to the country north of Lake Ngami, but may spend the winter with the Volunteers against the Zulus if the war comes on." FOOTNOTES: [15] "A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 244-245. [16] "A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 433-434. [17] "A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 279-281. [18] "A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 282-283. [19] "A Hunter's Wanderings," p. 283. [20] Letter to his mother. [21] "A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 339-340. CHAPTER V 1879-1880