gabble characteristic of hunting boys after a good day 

 and with plenty of meat in camp. 



I was sitting on a small camp stool critically examin- 

 ing a boot and wondering if the dried hide would 

 grip well enough to permit of the top lacings being 

 removed, and Jock was lying in front of me, carefully 

 licking the last sore spot on one fore paw, when I saw 

 his head switch up suddenly and his whole body set 

 hard in a study of intense listening. Then he got up 

 and trotted briskly off some ten or fifteen yards, and 

 stood a bright spot picked out by the glare of the 

 camp fire with his back towards me and his uneven 

 ears topping him off. 



I walked out to him, and silence fell on the camp ; 

 all watched and listened. At first we heard nothing 

 but soon the call of a wild dog explained Jock's move- 

 ments ; the sound, however, did not come from the 

 direction in which he was looking, but a good deal to 

 the right ; and as he instantly looked to this new 

 quarter I concluded that this was not the dog he had 

 previously heard, or else it must have moved rapidly. 

 There was another wait, and then there followed calls 

 from other quarters. 



There was nothing unusual in the presence of wild 

 dogs : hyenas, jackals, wild dogs and all the smaller 

 beasts of prey were heard nightly ; what attracted 

 attention in this case was the regular calling from 

 different points. The boys said the wild dogs were 

 hunting something and calling to each other to 

 indicate the direction of the hunt, so that those in 

 front might turn the buck and by keeping it in a circle 

 297 



