We kept a careful lookout for the camp of the amazons, but did not see it up to the time we reached the river, nor did we see any trace of either of the fair hunters.
We halted under the shade of a large tree, and candor compels me to say that we discussed the whereabouts of Miss Boland and her companion much more than we did the locality of the other game which we came to seek. Harry said he thought they had taken alarm and moved, while Jack felt sure that nothing of the kind had happened.
"We haven't come in the right direction," said he, "and that's where the trouble is. I'll wager three to one they haven't moved at all, unless they found it judicious to move their camp and bring it nearer to ours."
I did not express any opinion either way on the subject, as I did not want to appear particularly interested in it.
In a little while, perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, one of our trackers came in and said there were buffaloes farther along the valley toward the west. There was quite a bunch of them, he said, some twenty or more, making an assorted lot of bulls, cows, and young buffaloes. They were in a patch of thin bushes, which were sufficiently low to enable the tracker to see the backs of the beasts without difficulty.
CHAPTER V.
AFTER BUFFALOES AND ELANDS—A FORTUNATE
SNAP-SHOT—ANOTHER HUNTER'S GAME.
The question now was whether we should continue our hunting on horseback or go on on foot. It is a very two-sided question, this one of hunting buffaloes on horseback or leaving the horses behind you. The horse gives you the advantage of making a rapid pursuit of your game when it is trying to run away, and with a good horse you can easily overtake a buffalo, if you have wounded him at all severely.
On the other hand, it is difficult, yes, practically impossible, to shoot from a horse's back with any sort of accuracy. You must dismount to shoot, and when you do so you necessarily lose a little time; and quite likely your horse is restive, and will jerk your arm just as you raise the rifle to your shoulder. Then, when you try to mount again, he will make it difficult for you to do so by pulling back on the bridle and acting ugly. Horses that are perfect hunters are very hard to find in Africa, and I do not believe the rest of the world is oversupplied with them. I have heard of a great many horses that would enter into the spirit of the chase, stand like rocks when their riders wished to fire, follow closely, always be ready to be mounted, and do everything else that the hunter might desire. I say I have heard of those horses, but they were always a long way off from where I was.
We decided that we would leave the horses under the tree, which was a conspicuous landmark, with two of the Kafirs to take care of them while we went on foot after the buffaloes.