They are seldom seen in the herd itself, but they are generally
within a few hundred paces; and just as the guns may have been
discharged at the herd, the rogue will, perhaps, appear in full charge
from his ambush. This is exquisitely dangerous, and is the manner in
which I was caught near this spot in 1850.
Banda was very anxious that this rogue should be killed before we
attacked the herd, and he begged me to give him a shoulder-shot with the
four-ounce rifle, while Wortley and Palliser were to fire at his head! A
shot through the shoulder with the heavy rifle would be certain death,
although he might not drop immediately; but the object of the natives
was simply to get him killed, on account of his mischievous habits.
We therefore agreed to make our first attack upon the rogue: if we
should kill him on the spot, so much the better; if not, we knew that a
four-ounce ball through his lungs would kill him eventually, and, at all
events, he would not be in a humour to interrupt our pursuit of the
herd, which we were to push for the moment we had put the rogue out of
the way.
These arrangements being made, we started.
