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JOCK was lost twice : that is to say, he was lost to me, 

 and, as I thought, for ever. It came about both 

 times through his following up wounded animals 

 and leaving me behind, and happened in the days 

 when our hunting was all done on foot ; when I 

 could afford a horse and could keep pace with him 

 that difficulty did not trouble us. The experience 

 with the impala had made me very careful not to let 

 him go unless I felt sure that the game was hard hit 

 and that he would be able to pull it down or bay it. 

 But it is not always easy to judge that. A broken leg 

 shows at once ; but a body shot is very difficult to 

 place, and animals shot through the lungs, and even 

 through the lower part of the heart, often go away 

 at a cracking pace and are out of sight in no time, 

 perhaps to keep it up for miles, perhaps to drop dead 

 within a few minutes. 



After that day with the impala we had many good 

 days together and many hard ones : we had our 

 disappointments, but we had our triumphs ; and we 

 were both getting to know our way about by degrees. 

 Buck of many kinds had fallen to us ; but so far as I 

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