long grass. It was a long spell, and what with the 

 rough country and the uncontrollable laughter at the 

 sight of Jock, I was pretty well done by the time we were 

 safely out of the ' fly.' We pulled up when the 

 country began to fall away sharply towards the river, 

 and there, to Jock's evident satisfaction, I took off his 

 suit by that time very much tattered and awry. 



It was there, lying between two rocks in the shade 

 of a marula tree, that I got one of those chances to see 

 game at close quarters of which most men only hear or 

 dream. There were no snapshot cameras then ! 



We had been lying there it may be for half an hour 

 or more, Jock asleep and I spread out on my back, 

 when a slight but distinct click, as of a hoof against a 

 stone, made me turn quietly over on my side and listen. 

 The rock beside me was about four feet high, and on the 

 other side of it a buck of some kind, and a big one 

 too, was walking with easy stride towards the river. 

 Every footstep was perfectly clear ; the walk was firm 

 and confident : evidently there was not the least 

 suspicion of danger. It was only a matter of yards 

 between us, and what little breeze there was drifted 

 across his course towards me, as he too made for the 

 river, holding a course parallel with the two long rocks 

 between which we were lying. The footsteps came 

 abreast of us and then stopped, just as I was expecting 

 him to walk on past the rock and down the hill in 

 front of me. The sudden halt seemed to mean that 

 some warning instinct had arrested him, or some least 

 taint upon the pure air softly eddying between the 

 rocks had reached him. I could hear his sniffs, and 



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