A SUCCESSFUL SHOT. 297 



The spoor about our immediate vicinity was so 

 numerous that I took the Totty with me and went 

 in search of some of the game that had made it. 

 A number of Bushmen had joined our cortege, and 

 judging from their contracted physiques and starvation 

 belts, there could scarcely be a doubt that they had 

 been existing on very short commons. To shoot game 

 for the requirements of these poor people ceased to 

 be a sin, but became a duty. To the rechte hand 

 pat (right-hand path), after a trudge of half-an-hour, 

 w r e got into what in Africa would be considered 

 forest-land ; but forest-land in this part of the world 

 must not be confused with the beeches of Burnham 

 or the old oaks of Cadzow Forest. Soon after I 

 entered this wooded district I noted a bird flitting 

 from tree to tree in front of me. The Totty said 

 there was game not far off; and, sure enough, he 

 was right, for immediately afterwards a steinbok 

 left some bushes in my front, trotted across an open 

 glade, and then stood as if desirous of having a closer 

 acquaintance with the European intruder, who thus un- 

 expectedly forced himself upon his observation. That 

 halt was fatal ; the steinbok fell, for a 500 Express 

 bullet from my Tolley rifle passed through his pretty 



