But a tremendous
and painful roar, which came from behind the cloud of dust that rose
in the centre of the herd, and which was horridly answered by the
screams of the carrion birds, that were greedily sailing directly
above the flying drove, appeared to give a new impulse to their
flight, and at once to remove every symptom of indecision. As if glad
to seek the smallest signs of the forest, the whole of the affrighted
herd became steady in its direction, rushing in a straight line toward
the little cover of bushes, which has already been so often named.
The appearance of danger was now, in reality, of a character to try
the stoutest nerves. The flanks of the dark, moving mass, were
advanced in such a manner as to make a concave line of the front, and
every fierce eye, that was glaring from the shaggy wilderness of hair
in which the entire heads of the males were enveloped, was riveted
with mad anxiety on the thicket. It seemed as if each beast strove to
outstrip his neighbour, in gaining this desired cover; and as
thousands in the rear pressed blindly on those in front, there was the
appearance of an imminent risk that the leaders of the herd would be
precipitated on the concealed party, in which case the destruction of
every one of them was certain.
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