80 LAEGE GAME. CHAP. n. 



glistening where the sun's rays, penetrating the thick 

 thorns, danced upon it. I aimed at the shoulder, it being 

 so near that I could pick out the exact spot that I thought 

 would be fatal, while my comrade took it in the head, 

 having a crotchet that there was some vulnerable spot 

 there. 



Smoke always hangs long in jungle, but the moment 

 after we fired our ears warned us, and we sprang into the 

 tree with our second barrels undischarged, while the 

 other hunter, who had waited to plant his ball in the 

 brute's chest, barely escaped by dodging to one side of 

 the tree as it passed on the other. There was just time 

 to send another bullet after it before it disappeared, and 

 then we all got down, and, after reloading, prepared to 

 follow it. This was all very well so long as it kept 

 galloping ; but when, after about half a mile, it reduced 

 its pace on entering a large thorn jungle to a walk, and 

 began to stand about, come back on its spoor for ten 

 yards, make short parallel lines, and, in a word, do every- 

 thing that its cunning suggested to lead us astray or 

 within its reach, it became frightfully dangerous, and 

 after a short time its spoor became such a labyrinth of 

 converging circles, some larger and some smaller, that, 

 besides the difficulty it caused in tracking it, it made the 

 risk to ourselves so great that I thought it my duty to 

 ask the men whether they cared to go on, and though 

 they both answered in the affirmative, they urged the 

 advisability of our leaving it alone for a while, so as to 

 allay its suspiciousness, and allow time for its wounds to 

 get stiff. To this I agreed, though rather doubtful whether 

 any lapse of time would make an animal with seven balls 



