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BBC Four Collections -

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specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.

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For this collection, Sir David Attenborough

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has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.

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More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections,

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are available on BBC iPlayer.

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DIDGERIDOO PLAYING AND SINGING

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This placid stretch of water, starred by a few white water lilies,

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is what is known in this part of the world as a billabong,

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from which you'll guess that we're in Australia.

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If you travel about 80 miles in that direction,

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you come to a small cattle station.

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But you'll have to travel for over 100 miles in pretty well

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any other direction before you'll find another white face.

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I asked one of the men in the cattle station

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what the country was like ahead, and he said, "She's harsh."

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Well, she is harsh.

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Away from these lagoons and swamps, the country is dry and waterless,

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covered with nothing but gum trees and pandanus palms,

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and hot, dry rock.

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Behind me, you can hear the voices of over a quarter of a million geese,

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and not just ordinary geese either,

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for those geese over there are among the rarest geese in the world.

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They're the magpie geese,

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and it's the magpie geese that have brought us here.

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Beyond these eucalyptus trees,

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the huge swamp begins that is the magpie geese's home,

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and on the edge of it we've built a small hide,

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and during the past week or so we've been sitting in that hide,

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watching the geese and the other enormous flocks of water birds

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that come here during the dry season to feed.

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During much of the day, it's extremely difficult

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to get a clear view of the geese,

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for not only are they very nervous and easily scared,

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but most of them are way out in the middle of the swamps,

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feeding among the tall, reedy grass,

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and you can see little more of them than their heads and necks.

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CACOPHONOUS HONKING

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But when they've finished feeding, some of them leave the swamps

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to preen and clean themselves.

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Then you can see how very different they are from normal geese.

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Their legs are unusually long,

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only half webbed, and with long claws.

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They have a hooked bill, and a large knob on the top of their heads.

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In fact, they're so odd that some authorities have questioned

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whether they're really true geese at all.

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Their long legs and claws are of great help to them in feeding,

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for their favourite food is the bulbs of the plants

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which grow in these swamps.

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Elsewhere in Australia, they're extremely rare,

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but up here, on the north coast, they still survive in vast numbers.

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A few years ago, attempts were made

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to grow rice on a large scale here a little to the west.

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Hundreds of acres of land were cleared and sown.

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Millions of pounds were spent.

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The geese regarded this as a splendid increase in their feeding grounds.

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They descended on the fields in thousands.

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Nothing the cultivators could do would scare them off.

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Rattles, ingenious scarecrows of one sort and another were tried,

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but the area was too vast for them to be effective.

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Then the military were called in

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to keep up a regular fusillade of bullets over the swamps.

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They killed quite a lot of geese, but most of the flock simply

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flew off for half a mile or so and then settled down again out of range.

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Finally, the rice growers gave up.

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The enormous investment was written off

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and the rice-growing project was abandoned.

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The geese had won.

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There are many other things to see here as well as the magpie geese.

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In a few weeks' time, when the rains come,

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much of this country will be under water and totally impassable.

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But just now it's so dry that huge fires continually rage

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through the bush, clearing areas of grass and blackening the tree trunks.

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But even in such a scorched area as this, so recently swept by fire,

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there are still interesting creatures to be found.

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Just over there I can see something that...

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that might look like a snake, but I am fairly sure isn't.

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And that...

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..I think...

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Yes, it is, it's a skink.

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A lot of people confuse the skink with a death adder

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and think it's poisonous and therefore kill it unnecessarily.

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But this isn't a snake at all. Its legs are very tiny.

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In fact, it's a lizard.

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And it's quite harmless.

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They shouldn't give me any trouble at all,

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when it comes to picking him up.

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Now, the thing to do -

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although of course he's got a little bit of a bite,

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and I don't want to be bitten -

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but the thing to do is just pick him up behind the back of the neck.

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Like...

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..so.

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There you are, a rather nice beast, too.

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Whoops!

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Ah, what a nice...

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He's got a blue tongue,

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hence his name, naturally, the blue-tongued skink.

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But a very nice creature.

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Actually, you don't have to come all the way up to Arnhem Land

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to see the blue-tongued skink, it occurs all over Australia,

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even as far south as Sydney.

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And it doesn't lay eggs, unlike many lizards.

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It gives birth to live young, and there it is, a rather fine example...

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Whoops! ..of a blue-tongued skink.

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And having seen him,

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well, let's let him go again and go on with our walkabout.

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Go on.

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But although all the country around here is so waterless and harsh,

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there are nonetheless a great number

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of very interesting animals to be seen.

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But you have to be pretty careful

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when you walk around in this sort of country, because around here,

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roaming among the gum trees, are over a quarter of a million water buffalo.

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They're not truly Australian animals, they come from Asia,

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but they were introduced here over 100 years ago as beasts of burden,

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and since then they've increased enormously in numbers

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and they've gone wild.

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Indeed, they have a reputation of being extremely dangerous,

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even though they're supposed to be docile

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back in their true home in Asia.

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When we were in Darwin, the main town in the Northern Territories,

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people were continually telling us

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how dreadfully dangerous these things were.

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We met one man who had spent three hours up in a gum tree

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while an angry bull buffalo tried to knock him and the tree down.

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We met another man who had just come out of hospital

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after spending three weeks there with six broken ribs

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and a badly gored side, who had been just walking in the bush when,

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without notice, a bull buffalo charged him and knocked him down.

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He only got away by seizing the beast's huge horns

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and twisting his neck until he went away.

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We even heard of a woman who was knocked down

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and who got away by stroking the beast's muzzle and saying,

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"There, there, old thing, it's all right,"

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until eventually the beast went away.

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But even so, she was pretty badly hurt.

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So, we felt that we had to get some pretty good advice

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on how we should behave in this sort of bush, just in case

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we did come across buffalo and they looked rather angrily at us.

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And the best person, it seemed to us, to give us advice was Yorkie Billy.

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Yorkie's camp is just half a mile up the lagoon that way,

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and Yorkie has spent all his life as a buffalo hunter.

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'Yorkie said that buffalo were very unpredictable beasts.

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'Sometimes they would just walk away,

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'but other times they charge without warning.

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'I asked him how you could tell if one was likely to be dangerous.'

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I can tell by the way they... stand up.

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They've got a bad-tempered look on them.

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DAVID LAUGHS

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So I have to look at a buffalo and try to sort out from a distance

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of 100 yards whether he's got a bad-tempered look?

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Yes, that's right.

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If he's got a very bad-tempered look, don't go near him.

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- How close is it safe to approach? - How close?

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Probably about 50, 60 yards.

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- Not closer than that? - Not closer than that.

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And supposing...

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What advice would you give me when I'm walking around this bush?

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Do you reckon it's safe for me to walk through the bush?

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Oh, it is safe, but be careful.

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See where you're going, don't walk into...

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Don't walk onto a sleeping buffalo while he's asleep

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or while he's feeding. Just...

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But that's all they do, sleep and feed.

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Well, then just go around them, if they're asleep.

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In particular, don't walk in long grass.

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That's where the buffaloes are camped of a daytime.

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I see. And what happens if I see one who's looking bad-tempered

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and he moves towards me, what do I do then?

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Well, just keep away from him.

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- Just walk away from him. - Is he liable to charge?

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Yes, he'll charge.

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Can I dodge him?

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Well, you could by getting up a tree or getting behind a tree,

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or if you have a gun in your hands...

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Well, I don't carry a gun, and I don't really like

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the look of these trees much,

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because they haven't got any low branches to get up.

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Well, if he charges you, there's another way of getting away from him.

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If he charges you and he's coming full gallop at you,

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just fall flat on the ground,

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the buffalo will jump over you and gallop on.

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- Will he? - Yes.

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I'll remember that, I shall probably pass out with fright!

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That's what I used to do when I was out on the plains.

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There are no trees within about one or two miles away,

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the nearest tree, that's what I used to do with a charging buffalo,

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fall flat on the ground,

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the buffalo would jump over me, the charging buffalo.

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Have you been with buffalo all your life, working with buffalo?

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Oh, yes, I've been on buffalo jobs, cattle stations,

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droving, on railway jobs, working.

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But you used to shoot a lot of buffalo, didn't you?

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In the early days, when the price was good, the skins were worth £15,

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up to nearly £20 a hide for an old big bull.

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- How many would you shoot a year? - Perhaps a couple of thousand.

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The licences were issued to the buffalo shooters

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to shoot a couple of thousand a year.

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- It's not worth shooting them now? - No, not worth shooting them now.

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They're protected now.

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Yes, but there's no price for the skins, I suppose.

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No price for the skins now.

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- Yorkie, were you born here? - Yes, born in Jim Jim.

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- In Jim Jim? - Mmm.

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- And who was your father, Yorkie? - My father came from Yorkshire.

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His name was William Alderson, but they called him Yorkie Mick.

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- Yorkie Mick? - Yorkie Mick, yes.

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- Because he came from Yorkshire? - Yes, nickname.

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My father was William Alderson, and my name's William Alderson.

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Have you ever thought much about Yorkshire, Yorkie?

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Eh?

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Have you ever thought much about that place, Yorkshire?

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- Ever thought? - Thought about what it's like.

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Well, my father used to tell me what it's like.

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- What do you reckon it's like? - Snow country.

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- Snow? - Yes, everything gets snowed up.

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Everything had to be hand fed, cattle stock,

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everything locked in the house.

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And my father used to be a farmer in Yorkshire, grow spuds and onions.

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Oh, yes?

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Where did you meet your wife, Yorkie?

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She was promised to me first, and when her father and mother...

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I had no wife, so her father and mother give her to me as a promise.

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What do you mean, "as a promise", Yorkie?

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A promise is a tribal promise.

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It's a sort of a tribal law, it's from the tribal affairs,

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and a promise is a promise.

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We give this wife over to this man, it's your wife,

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you tell him, for ever.

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When do you make this promise? How old would be the girl?

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Oh, before they're born.

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- Before they're born? - Yes, before they're born.

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They promise...

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If a man, by tribal affairs, a native,

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if they've got an auntie or a cousin, that woman will say now,

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the first child born, if it's a girl, female or male,

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it's yours if it's a female.

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That's a promise, don't break.

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How many children have you got, Yorkie?

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I've got five.

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Two sons, three daughters.

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And who looked after your wife at the birth?

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- I attend the birth myself. - Did you?

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- Too far away from the doctor. - I'll bet.

246
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So you must know a fair bit about midwifery.

247
00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:46,080
- Oh, yes, I've been a midwife! - As well as everything else!

248
00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:52,640
Yorkie, this sort of country, is it pretty rich in animals?

249
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,440
- Rich for...? - In animals.

250
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,080
Yes, it is rich in animals, all over this country.

251
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,880
What sort of things - can we see dingoes here?

252
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,920
You could see dingoes, but you'd have to look for them.

253
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:07,440
They're pretty rare now, are they?

254
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,800
Yes, they're pretty scarce round this country now.

255
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,040
For a bunch of years, they've been dying out,

256
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,360
one thing or another, drought, no water...

257
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,080
- You've been shooting them. - Hmm?

258
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,520
- You've been shooting them too. - Oh, sometimes I do, for a living.

259
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,040
Because there's a reward, isn't there, for a dingo?

260
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,800
There's a reward, a bonus for a quid.

261
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,240
A quid for a dingo?

262
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,720
'Yorkie is not the only man who makes his living from the wild animals.

263
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,760
'Other people, wandering in the bush, depend on them for food - '

264
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,080
the aborigines. These are their graves.

265
00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,920
The tribes of this part of the North Coast

266
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,440
are very different from the people of the central desert.

267
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,040
No other Australian people erect monuments,

268
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,480
comparable to these huge sculptures, hewn from tree trunks

269
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,720
and decorated in brilliant colours.

270
00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,840
Perhaps the inspiration for them came from outside Australia.

271
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,240
For seamen in canoes and prows

272
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,520
have for centuries been visiting this coast

273
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,920
from the islands of Indonesia in the west,

274
00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,160
or New Guinea in the north.

275
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,720
Not only do these aborigines carve and paint,

276
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,600
but they're also extremely gifted dancers.

277
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,080
They dance as part of their sacred rituals,

278
00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,280
but they also dance for fun and entertainment,

279
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,320
because they enjoy doing so.

280
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,920
These playabout dances they call yoys,

281
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,320
and often in them they enact the story of a hunt.

282
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,040
THEY SING

283
00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,920
THEY ULULATE

284
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,000
This is the kangaroo yoy,

285
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,000
a mimed drama portraying the killing of a kangaroo.

286
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,480
It's full, not only of suspense, but of comedy.

287
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,080
Their most skilful dancer, whose talent for realistic mime

288
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,960
and unpredictable humour is keenly appreciated by the audience,

289
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:12,920
plays the part of one of the kangaroos

290
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,520
that eventually will be slain by the hunters.

291
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,560
His hair is dyed bright red with henna,

292
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,480
and slung around his neck he wears

293
00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:23,680
an ornamental ball of goose feathers.

294
00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,680
CROWD CHATTERS

295
00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,880
The kangaroos are squabbling among themselves and grazing,

296
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,560
for as yet, the hunters have not appeared.

297
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:46,440
CROWD CHATTERS

298
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:21,000
These people hunt not only kangaroos, but also magpie geese.

299
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,560
The approach to the swamps through the mangroves

300
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,600
must be made in complete silence,

301
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:27,760
and with great caution,

302
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,840
for if one bird is frightened and flies off,

303
00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,920
the whole flock will take to the air.

304
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:37,040
And pelicans are more efficient sentinels than most.

305
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,200
The hunter uses a spear thrower to give additional force to his spear.

306
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:07,600
One plump goose lying in the now deserted waters of the swamp.

307
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,960
A goose that will provide a good meal for a complete family.

308
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,320
We too spent a great deal of time wandering in the bush

309
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,280
that fringes the swamps, trying to catch sight of the other creatures

310
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:29,480
that are attracted here by the open water.

311
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,160
Our attention was caught by these little pygmy geese.

312
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,440
I glanced up, and there on the opposite bank stood a dingo.

313
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,000
This was a real stroke of luck, for, after all,

314
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,160
Yorkie had been very doubtful of our chances of seeing one.

315
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,760
We stood stock still, while he stared fixedly in our direction.

316
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,680
Whether he was looking at us or the birds on the lagoon, I didn't know.

317
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,640
It was fortunate for him that Yorkie was not with us,

318
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,600
for if he had been, the dingo would not have been able

319
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,720
to trot away like this.

320
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,320
The dingo is something of a mystery.

321
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,120
He was certainly here long before Europeans came to Australia.

322
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,520
It's thought that he arrived in the canoes

323
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,600
of the ancestors of the aborigines,

324
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,360
when they first came to this country thousands of years ago.

325
00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:18,200
But exactly where his original home was, no-one knows.

326
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:26,040
But we had still failed to find our main quarry, the buffalo.

327
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,000
This egret, standing on the edge of the swamp however,

328
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,280
was a good sign, for egrets spend a great deal of their time

329
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,240
around the buffalo herds,

330
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,320
collecting insects thrown up by the buffalo's hooves

331
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,360
and picking ticks and flies from their hides.

332
00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:43,520
And there they were, far out in the swamps,

333
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:48,400
wading up to their knees in water, with egrets riding on their backs.

334
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,720
They were nearly a quarter of a mile away,

335
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,480
and we were filming them with telephoto lenses,

336
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,920
so there was no danger of being charged.

337
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,760
But on the other hand, our view of them was not a very good one.

338
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:00,360
For the heat was so intense,

339
00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,160
that the air over the swamps quivered and danced,

340
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,440
and we couldn't get any closer to them across the swamps

341
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:08,840
even if we'd wanted to.

342
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,880
Everywhere they went, the egrets followed them.

343
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,280
The cattle egret is really a bird of Africa and Asia,

344
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,240
and no-one quite knows when or how it got Australia.

345
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,640
As it occurs nowhere else in the world, except in association

346
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,600
with cattle of one sort or another,

347
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,480
it's unlikely that it got here before the buffalo,

348
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,720
and they've only been here for about 100 years.

349
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,600
Some 30 years ago, no-one had recorded a cattle egret in Australia.

350
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,560
In fact, an attempt was made to introduce them into Western Australia

351
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:45,560
in the hope that they would clear the local cattle of ticks.

352
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:47,960
18 birds were imported, but they all died,

353
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,000
and it was thought that the experiment was a failure.

354
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,160
Then a naturalist suddenly discovered that there were

355
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,840
great flocks of egrets up here in the Northern Territory.

356
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,600
Were they descendants of the original introduction?

357
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:03,840
Or had they got here by themselves, by way of the Indonesian islands?

358
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,480
No-one knows.

359
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,480
As the heat became more intense,

360
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,600
the buffaloes began to wander off into the bush.

361
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,600
The only way to get a better view of them

362
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,200
was obviously to follow them.

363
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,840
The herd was scattered throughout the trees.

364
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,000
Every time I saw one, I remembered what Yorkie had said,

365
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,280
and I must admit, I found it very difficult to decide

366
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,560
whether they had a bad- or a good-tempered look on them.

367
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,120
All of them looked rather surly to me.

368
00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:36,480
But none of them stayed long.

369
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,640
BIRD CALLS

370
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,920
This was the nearest we had approached one so far.

371
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,320
He was a big old bull, and he snuffed our scent rather alarmingly.

372
00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:58,840
Then he was off.

373
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,560
But he didn't go far.

374
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,640
His faithful egret settled once more on his back,

375
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:17,200
and then he began to circle us at a distance of about 20 yards.

376
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,280
What did he want?

377
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,000
He was certainly well aware of our presence.

378
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,680
Was he one of the peaceful ones,

379
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,960
or one of those that Yorkie had called cranky and bad-tempered?

380
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:40,080
Well, if he did charge, we would be fairly safe in this sort of country,

381
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,160
for there were more than enough trees to dodge behind or to shin up.

382
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,400
Slowly and disdainfully, he walked around us.

383
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,960
And eventually he just stalked away.

384
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,400
But we still wanted to see the large groups of buffalo

385
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:39,960
that we'd heard about,

386
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,680
and the place to do that was not in the bush.

387
00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,000
Out here, on the open plains,

388
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,760
we should be seeing big herds of buffalo.

389
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,560
Whereas it was hot enough in there though,

390
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:59,240
in the shade of the gums, out here it really is baking hot.

391
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,480
The sun is beating down on these flat open plains,

392
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,000
and if I'd been a traveller walking for perhaps a week,

393
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,000
with very little water, well, I should be looking over there,

394
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:15,520
and I should think probably that that was a wide cool lagoon full of water,

395
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,240
with trees mirrored in its surface.

396
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,640
In fact it's nothing of the kind.

397
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,960
It's a mirage, an optical illusion

398
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,280
caused by this great, burning, beating heat.

399
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,920
And over there, there's nothing but scorched mud,

400
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,840
and there's no water and no trees.

401
00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:49,320
But there are the buffalo.

402
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:59,280
A herd several hundred strong. A really impressive sight.

403
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,800
They had gathered around the last shrinking waterhole on the plains

404
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,040
to drink and to wallow in the mud.

405
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,280
Approaching these was going to be a little more difficult.

406
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,800
Slowly, we advanced towards them,

407
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,680
until we were close enough to get a really good view

408
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,600
of the cows with their calves.

409
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,480
They looked amiable enough, and we went a bit closer.

410
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,920
Here too, they were attended by birds,

411
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,400
though not by cattle egrets - by pied herons.

412
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,000
But then they decided

413
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,480
that we had come rather too close for their liking,

414
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,880
and a large group of them advanced towards us rather threateningly.

415
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:02,400
There were no trees to shin up out here.

416
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,840
If they charged, the only thing to do

417
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,760
would be to take Yorkie's advice and fall flat on our faces.

418
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,320
By and large, it seemed better to take the offensive ourselves.

419
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:01,200
So, maybe the buffalo is not so dangerous after all?

420
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:06,720
Provided that you can see him in good time, and he can see you.