It rushed him for a couple of hundred yards, and then stopped.

Hugh managed to eject the cartridge and load, and then cantered after the animal, which had started again at a sullen trot, with the blood pouring from its flank.

As he galloped up to administer the "coup de grace," meaning to make no mistake about hitting the loin this time, the buffalo suddenly wheeled and charged him again, and Close Up executed another hurried retreat.

For a while they took it up and down--first buffalo hunting man, then man hunting buffalo--while Hugh fired whenever he had the chance, without seeming to discompose the brute at all.

At last a lucky shot struck some vital spot inside; the beast stopped, staggered, and fell dead without a sound.