A party of traders were on their way to the coast, and the Colonel joined them. Reaching the coast he found a vessel nearly ready to sail, and in it he took passage to Bombay. He was in India nearly two months before he had an opportunity to try his favorite rifle on any large game. He preferred to hunt tigers, for tigers are such scourges to the localities in which they are found that he felt justified in killing as many of them as he could. But it turned out that his first hunt was a buffalo hunt—and not only his first but his second and third, and a good many after that. He got in a part of the country in which there were a good many buffaloes, and as they were needed as food it paid very well to hunt them, and there were always natives enough who were willing to help if they might have a large share of the meat. One day one of these natives had a little more buffalo hunting than he wanted. The colonel perceived a very large fine bull buffalo standing in an open space and was just about to take a good aim at him when the animal began to trot off towards a dense thicket. The colonel was afraid of losing him and so he fired too quickly. If he hit the buffalo at all he merely wounded him very slightly, for he dashed off into the thicket. The native attendant, however, was quite sure that the buffalo had been fairly hit and would soon drop, so off he rushed to find him. While he was pushing his way through the thicket he heard a crashing noise, and looking around saw the savage bull charging down upon him from a little eminence where there was a comparatively open space. The man had a gun, but it was not loaded. There was no chance of his running away, for the bushes and reeds were too close and strong to allow of that. There was no tree near but one very thick one, up which he had no time to climb. The bull stopped for an instant, and then put down his head for another charge. The man had no time to do much thinking. Whatever he did in self-defence must be done quickly, that he knew well. So he darted behind the tree, and jerking his blanket from his back he put it on his gun-barrel and waved it about. The buffalo immediately accepted the challenge, and came at him full tear. He rushed at the cloth, and as he passed he took it away on his horns. Then the native hurried off as fast as he could go in the opposite direction. The colonel, who had loaded up and was waiting for his attendant to return, was very much astonished to see a buffalo rush out of the thicket with a blanket twisted about his horns. The animal evidently did not notice him, and so he raised his rifle and shot him dead without the slightest trouble. [Illustration: THE NATIVE’S TRICK.] As soon as the buffalo was quite dead, the native appeared from the thicket and immediately began to boast of the share he had had in killing the animal.