Little Gray made haste to give him all the room he wanted, and in so doing led the buffalo within a few yards of the edge of the grove in which the Kaffir had taken up his position.
As the game passed him the native threw one of his spears. It flew through the air with surprising force and precision, and, striking the buffalo fairly in the side, buried its head out of sight between his ribs.
"Great Scott!" ejaculated the astonished Oscar, who sat half turned about in the saddle, and left his horse to pick out his own way. "Who would suppose that that man's arm had so much power in it? Where would Paddy O'Brian be now if Thompson had thrown one of those spears at him?"
That the buffalo was severely wounded was evident from the increased fury with which he charged the dogs, which had followed close at his heels.
Seeing that his attention was fully occupied by them, Oscar stopped at a safe distance, and faced about to watch the battle, and to look for McCann, who had not yet made his appearance.
As soon as a favorable opportunity was presented another assegai was launched into the air by the Kaffir's sinewy arm, and, like the first, it found a lodgment in the body of the buffalo, which just then caught Oscar's favorite hunting dog, a huge mastiff, on his horns, and threw him twenty feet high by simply raising his head. When the poor brute came down all the fight was gone out of him—and all the life, too.
"Such work as that won't do!" shouted Oscar, who was trembling all over with excitement. "McCann, why don't you bring out that rifle? Come up closer, Thompson, so that you can have a fair chance at him! Kill him, and I will give you a musket!"
Now a musket is something every native covets. Some of them have been known to travel five hundred miles on foot through the wilderness, every day running the risk of being killed by wild beasts or captured by members of tribes hostile to them, in order to reach the diamond fields, in which they will give a year's labor for a musket worth ten or twelve dollars.
Big Thompson would probably have done the same thing, and thought nothing of it, but he would not take his chances with an enraged buffalo.
He could not be induced to advance more than fifty yards from the shelter of the grove. He wanted to be within reach of the trees, so that he could take refuge in one of them in case the buffalo made a charge upon him.