I Tried The Long Two-Ounce Rifle At Him, But,
Taking Too Great An Elevation, I Fired Over Him.
The report, however,
had the effect of turning him, and, instead of retreating, he wheeled
round and attempted to
Pass between the guns and the banks of the lake.
We were about three hundred yards from the water's edge, and he was soon
passing us at full gallop at right angles, about midway or a hundred and
fifty yards distant.
I had twelve drachms of powder in the four-ounce rifle, and I took a
flying shot at his shoulder. No visible effect was produced, and the
ball ricochetted completely across the broad surface of the lake (which
was no more than a mile wide at this part) in continuous splashes. The
gun-bearers said I had fired behind him, but I had distinctly heard the
peculiar 'fut' which a ball makes upon striking an animal, and although
the passage of the ball across the lake appeared remarkable,
nevertheless I felt positive that it had first passed through some
portion of the animal.
Away the bull sped over the plain at unabated speed for about two
hundred paces, when he suddenly turned and charged toward the guns. On
he came for about a hundred yards, but evidently slackening his speed at
every stride. At length he stopped altogether. His mouth was wide open,
and I could now distinguish a mass of bloody foam upon his lips and
nostrils--the ball had in reality passed through his lungs, and, making
its exit from the opposite shoulder, it had even then flown across the
lake.
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