The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-05-13

found Jed clicks past the bush they
were III. aud thsy nnlg6 have made
disagr seab!e md taken me
at q disadvantage. then hurried
after them with the eight-bore. and
outrunning my gun bearer. soon over
took them, as they were both lame,
getting within 70 yards. when the one
which had received the four-bore bull.
let, and was a trife behind the other.
evidently heard me coming aleng be-
hind him, as he whisked around and
stood staring at me, ] roadside on.
whilst the other continued to retreat.
Sitting down (my favorite position,
and as l was much blown after my
run with heavy rifle) took steady
shot at his shoulder. and distinctly
heard the bullet strike, Lut it had alb
solutely no effect, and the beast never
even f1inched. Hastily jamn ing In an
other cartridge in order to have one
in reserve in case he should charge,
again fired at his shoulder, and he
dropped as if struck by nghtnfng;;' he
fell so quickly that did not see him
fall. He was, however, not dead, as
could see his side heaving above the
top of the grass as : , lay. BY this
time the gun bearers had come up;
followed shortly afterwards by the
rest of the men, who had come on
when they had heard the first two
shots, and who on seeing that the
beast was down, ran up Ike pack OF
wolves to "chinja" 1T. e. to cut Its
throat. Knowing, however that it was
not dead I ran forward and shouted
to them not to go near; but they were
too excited to pay heed to my wraning,
and were standing all round it, when
after a desperate effort to regain !;
legs, Il jumped up, the men flying IN
all directions. Catching sight OF my
second gun bearer who had also gone
up to it, and who at the time was car
rying my four-bore riffs, 1t went
straight for him. The man bolted
and finding that the buffalo was close
upon him, dropped the rifle-the stock
Of which was snapped short OF at the
grip by the buffalo treading on lt-and
ran for dea- life, the beas' being
within a few inches Of him and giving
vent to a furious grunt at each step.
For some little time l was unable to
shoot, as the rest Of the men were
scattered and lodging about between
myself and the buffalo, so l shouted
to the gun bearer to run towards me-,
which he did, and I was able to fire.
but the eight-bore bulle- had appar"
emily no effect on the ilfuriated beast.
At the same moment the man doubled
and ran straight away from me, max
ing for a small tree about 100 yards
off, twisting and turning as he ran,
but the buffalo still stuck close to
him and doubled as - :kly as tas
man did. All this time was tearing
along in pursuit, hoping 70 get shot.
but did not dare fire for fear OF nit
ting the man. who wa: lodging about
from side to side, anI l was some
sixty yards behind when they reached
the tree This the man endeavored
to catch hold of so as tc SWIM him.
self round, but he was going so fast
that the impetus caused his hand to
slip, and he tripped up and fell for
ward fiat on his face into the grass
which was some two anf one-half
feet high under the shade of the tree.
The buffalo being so close to him at
the time overshot him, but whipped
round, and I twice saw it give a
vicious dig at him with its head and
then kneel down two or three times
when l could only see its stern above
the grass. BY the time got close up
the buffalo was in kneeling position;
and thinking the man was probably
dead, l raised my rifle to fire, when
the man whom I could not see in the
longish grass, raised Lis head and
shoulders from underneath the beasts
stomach directly in the line of fire,
Obliging me to divert the muzzle ..1til
he wriggled himself out of line, when
a couple Of bullets at close quarters
settled this cunning savage, yet pluc' 7
beast. The man. back and the calves Of
his legs were covered with blood from
the buffalo's mouth and nostrils dur
ing he run, showing how very close
it had been to him all the time. He
told me afterwards that when he fell
he turned over on his back, and the
buffalo made a bad shot each time
it lunged at him with it's head, or
tried to kneel on him, owing perhaps
to the fact that it was leak ard dazed
from the loss of blood and he was
therefore able to twist himself out Ct
the way.
On cutting up the beast, l found
the four-bore bullet was TOO far back
and also too high. The first eight.
bore bullet had caugh, the beast fair
behind the shoulder, ano had gone
through both lungs rather low down,
and I think If the beast had been left
alone after it had been knocked down
by the next shot, it would have very
soon have died quietly; but as it was
the men rushing up and standing
round it seemed to inspire it with a
final desire for revenge The second
eight-bore bullet was, as l expected,
too high and had passed through the
dorsal ridge just above the vertebrae.
The shot fired at it as it ran past me
caught it in the proper place, went
through both lungs and just grazed
the heart, and it is more than prob
able that it was this shot which pre-.
vented what might ha e en- a seri.
Gus accident.
The other old bull, although we fol.
lowed him for long way, eager for
revenge. got clean away.