assistance such as was needed.

The accident had been a peculiar one; not alone was the nature of the
injury unusual, but so were the circumstances under which it had been
inflicted. Tyrer, on his way to the camp late in the afternoon, had
wounded a very large buffalo. On the following morning he went to the
locality where the animal had disappeared, with the intention of taking
up the spoor. Here the jungle was very dense. Suddenly he came face to
face with the creature he was seeking. It charged, and was upon him
before he had time even to lift his rifle. Tyrer dropped the latter,
and, with the strength of desperation, grasped the horns of the monster
close to their tips.

Then began a terrible wrestling match. The buffalo was exceptionally
large, probably it was old and correspondingly stiff, for on no other
grounds can one account for Tyrer having been able to save his life.
Gross and unwieldy as it looks, the buffalo in its prime is as active
as a cat. But Tyrer's antagonist was apparently unable to bend its
neck, and get its head beneath its chest, so Tyrer was for a time able
to hold on. His native bearer had dropped the spare gun and climbed
into a tree.

At length Tyrer was shaken off and flung in a heap on the ground. In an
instant the buffalo picked him up on one of its horns, flung him into
the air and rushed away. The result to poor Tyrer was a terrible injury
one which I do not care to describe. Some weeks later the injured man
was carried past our camp on a litter. He was afterwards conveyed to
Natal, and thence to Europe, where a skilful operation set him right.

In 1889 I went to Johannesburg. While there I met an old friend,
Charles Currey, then head of the Department of Lands and Mines, in the
Cape Civil Service. We arranged to take a trip together to a place
called Struben's Mill, which lay behind some hills on the right-hand
side of the Main Reef to westward of the Golden City. Currey was bent
on sketching; I on collecting ferns. The afternoon grew hot, and we
longed for a cup of tea. Seeing a house high up on the hillside, with
smoke issuing from its chimney, we decided to call there and try our
luck.

We were hospitably received by the man in charge; he at once provided
the desired refreshment. He and I found that we knew a great deal of
the same country, so we began exchanging reminiscences. I told the
story about Tyrer, and added that I had often wondered as to what had
become of him. Our