spoor and began to palpitate with thoughts of bagging 

 a koodoo bull. 



We had been out perhaps an hour, and by unceasing 

 watchfulness I had learnt many things : they were 

 about as well learnt and as useful as a sentence in a 

 foreign tongue got off by heart ; but to me they 

 seemed the essentials and the fundamentals of hunting. 

 I was feeling very pleased with myself and confident 

 of the result ; the stumbling over stones and stumps 

 had ceased ; and there was no more catching in thorns, 

 crunching on bare gritty places, clinking on rocks, 

 or crackling of dry twigs ; and as we moved on in silence 

 the visions of koodoo and other big game became very 

 real. There was nothing to hinder them : to do as 

 Rocky did had become mechanically easy; a glance 

 in his direction every now and then was enough ; 

 there was time and temptation to look about and still 

 perhaps to be the first to spot the game. 



It was after taking one such casual glance around 

 that I suddenly missed Rocky : a moment later I 

 saw him moving forward, fast but silently, under cover 

 of an ant-heap stooping low and signing to me with 

 one hand behind his back. With a horrible feeling 

 of having failed him I made a hurried step sideways 

 to get into line behind him and the ant-heap, and I 

 stepped right on to a pile of dry crackly sticks. Rocky 

 , stood up quietly and waited, while I wished the earth 

 would open and swallow me. When I got up abreast 

 lie half turned and looked me over with eyes slightly 

 narrowed and a faint but ominous smile on one side 

 of his mouth, and drawled out gently : 



34 



