“Who are you?” asked the buffalo.
“The antelopes!” was the answer. “You have no right to drink until we have finished. Come on, brothers!” cried the leader of the antelope herd. “Let us drive this shaggy creature away!” And with his sharp horns lowered this antelope, and several others, rushed straight at Shaggo.
CHAPTER V
SHAGGO IN A TRAP
The mighty buffalo was no coward. There were some things of which Shaggo was afraid, and one of them was the hot, bubbling, boiling, geyser in the cave. But he was not afraid of animals like himself, not even the big fierce grizzly bear. Shaggo felt that with his large, heavy head and his horns, which were sharp and strong, if they were not very long, he was a match for almost any other creature.
Of course Shaggo knew nothing of lions, tigers or elephants. Those animals did not live in his part of the world and he had never seen a circus. But of all the animals he knew, he was afraid of none.
So when Shaggo, the mighty buffalo, saw the herd of antelopes coming at him, to drive him away from the drinking pool, he lowered his big, bushy head, pawed the ground with his hoofs, stamped with one foot, and bellowed loudly:
“Come on, all of you! I’m not afraid! I’m thirsty and I’m going to get a drink. I would have taken a drink in peace, and gone off by myself if you had let me alone, but if you want to fight I am ready!”
“Oh, you are, are you?” bleated the antelopes—several of them talking in animal fashion at once. “Well, we’ll show you! This is our turn to be at the drinking pool. You’d better run.”