

had not touched fresh meat for many days, 

 as there had been no time for shooting ; but I 

 knew that game was plentiful across the river in 

 the rough country between the Kaap and Croco- 

 dile, and I started off to make the best of the 

 day's delay, little dreaming that it was to be the last 

 time Jock and I would hunt together. 



Weeks had passed without a hunt, and Jock must 

 have thought there was a sad falling away on the part 

 of his master ; he no longer expected anything ; 

 the rifle was never taken down now except for an odd 

 shot from the outspan or to put some poor animal out 

 of its misery. Since the night with the lions, when he 

 had been ignominiously cooped up, there had been 

 nothing to stir his blood and make life worth living ; 

 and this morning as he saw me rise from breakfast 

 and proceed to potter about the waggons in the way 

 he had come to regard as inevitable, he looked on in- 

 differently for a few minutes and then stretched out 

 full length in the sun and went to sleep. 



430 



