CHAP. I. BUFFALO. 47 



of blood ceased, and the spoor soon crossed and mingled 

 with others of the same date, it became very hard to dis- 

 tinguish it. In cases of extreme difficulty like this the 

 following plan is pursued : one man takes up the track, 

 having a companion on each side of him, a yard off ; none 

 of the three ever speak, but so long as the one in the 

 centre retains it he keeps up a low cracking of the finger 

 and thumb, and when he loses it makes a louder crack, 

 and with a motion of the arm indicates the direction he 

 thinks it has taken ; hardly a second elapses, if the men 

 are good spoorers, before the cracking is taken up by one 

 or other of those on the flanks, upon which the man in 

 the centre immediately changes his position and goes on 

 the outside of the one who has recovered it, and so they 

 proceed across all the most difficult ground, which is 

 generally open, until they reach cover, and then resigning 

 the now plainly visible spoor to one of their number, the 

 other two skirmish on either side of him, seeing that he 

 is not taken by surprise, and ready to help him when 

 necessary. This we had now to do, and it made our pro- 

 gress exceedingly slow, as sometimes the track was all 

 but invisible, and in many places was so mixed up with 

 others, that to avoid losing it altogether, we had to trace 

 it even on our hands and knees, step by step. There is 

 no work connected with hunting so tiring as tracking ; 

 the slow pace, the continuously bent head exposing the 

 bare neck to the scorching rays of the sun, and the neces- 

 sity of being always on the watch for a sudden charge, 

 being so wearisome that it requires all the excitement of 

 the find and subsequent action to atone for it. 



The spoor led through several dense covers, where we 



