AFRICA 



big beast, with widespread horns, proud and won- 

 derful, like Landseer's stags, and I wanted one of 

 them very much. So I took the Springfield, and 

 dropped behind the line of some bushes. The stalk 

 was of the ordinary sort. One has to remain behind 

 cover, to keep down wind, to make no quick move- 

 ments. Sometimes this takes considerable manoeu- 

 vring; especially, as now, in the case of a small band 

 fairly well scattered out for feeding. Often after 

 one has succeeded in placing them all safely behind 

 the scattered cover, a straggler will step out into 

 view. Then the hunter must stop short, must 

 slowly, oh very, very slowly, sink down out of sight; 

 so slowly, in fact, that he must not seem to move, 

 but rather to melt imperceptibly away. Then he 

 must take up his progress at a lower plane of eleva- 

 tion. Perhaps he needs merely to stoop; or he may 

 crawl on hands and knees; or he may lie flat and 

 hitch himself forward by his toes, pushing his gun 

 ahead. If one of the beasts suddenly looks very 

 intently in his direction, he must freeze into no 

 matter what uncomfortable position, and so remain 

 an indefinite time. Even a hotel-bred child to whom 

 you have rashly made advances stares no longer nor 

 more intently than a buck that cannot make you out. 

 I had no great difficulty with this lot, but slipped 

 up quite successfully to within one hundred and 



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