Thus it was,
and close at hand, that I saw for the first time in my life these huge
creatures whose mission seemed to have been to support an uncivilized
people, and to make possible the holding by another race of those lands
late held as savage harvest grounds.
We were almost at the flanks of the herd before they reached the river
bank. We were among them when they paused stupidly, for some reason not
wishing to cross the stream. The front ranks rolled back upon those
behind, which, crowded from the rear, resisted. The whole front of the
mass wrinkled up mightily, dark humps arising in some places two or
three deep. Then the entire mass sensed the danger all at once, and with
as much unanimity as they had lacked concert in their late confusion,
they wheeled front and rear, and rolled off up the valley, still
enveloped in a cloud of white, biting dust.
In such a chase speed and courage of one's horse are the main
essentials. My horse, luckily for me, was able to lay me alongside my
game within a few hundred yards. I coursed close to a big black bull
and, obeying injunctions old Auberry had often given me, did not touch
the trigger until I found I was holding well forward and rather low.
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