ward the island.

They had been travelling along this road for nearly an hour, and were
approaching a village of more importance than any which they had
hitherto passed, when there suddenly arose a considerable commotion
among the people on the road ahead of them, who were seen running
confusedly hither and thither amid a great cloud of dust, while shouts,
shrieks, and a sound of low, angry bellowing rose upon the stagnant air.
Mechanically the whole party came to a halt to see what was the matter,
while Jantje and 'Nkuku began shouting to each other in greatly excited
tones, and the oxen which were drawing the wagon began to low, snort,
sniff the air, stamp excitedly on the ground, and lunge at each other
with their long horns. For perhaps a minute it was impossible to guess
what was happening; then the shouts suddenly grew much louder and more
excited, the crowd ahead parted right and left as though panic-stricken,
there arose a shriek of terror, or pain, or perhaps both, a man's body
was seen to go whirling some eight or ten feet into the air, and then a
bulky something, which presently resolved itself into a huge buffalo
bull, emerged from the dust-cloud and came charging along the road,
striking out with its immense, curved, sharp-pointed horns at everybody
in its way. The brute was then only about two hundred yards off, and
was galloping straight toward the party, with tail high in the air, head
low, eyes aflame with fury, and great gouts of froth dripping from its
heavy muzzle. For a moment the soldiers seemed paralysed with terror,
the next they all turned as with one accord, and, leaping an irrigation
ditch that ran alongside the road, sought safety in flight across a
field of young wheat. The buffalo paused a moment in mid-career, as
though hesitating whether he should pursue them or charge the wagon and
its team of oxen; but the next moment the brute had made up its mind,
and, perhaps attracted by the crimson trimming and glittering ornaments
of the officer's tunic, leaped the ditch and deliberately selected that
unfortunate individual as the especial object of his pursuit. The
position of the man at once became one of deadly peril, for, fast though
he ran, the buffalo had the advantage in the matter of speed, and was
rapidly gaining upon him when Dick and Grosvenor sprang to the wagon
and, hastily seizing their rifles, prepared to act. Dick was the first
on the ground again with his weapon, and, sinking