180 LARGE GAME. CHAP. iv. 



No wind stirred the leaves, and except the startled whirr 

 of the great locusts that rose at my feet, there was not a 

 sound in the air. 



I had got separated from the other hunters while fol- 

 lowing a large herd of buffalo, and had not seen any of 

 them for more than half an hour, and was now going in 

 the direction I thought they had taken in hopes of cross- 

 ing the spoor, and thus finding them ; for the chase had 

 taken us so many miles away from our camp, that I did 

 not know the country, and could only guess from the 

 glimpses of these great reed-fields, of which I had often 

 before heard, that I must be somewhere near the junction 

 of the Black and White Umfolosi rivers. 



As I got down and nearer them their immense extent 

 struck me more and more forcibly, and it was with a 

 feeling of curiosity that, after looking in vain for some 

 signs of the rest of my party, I waded through the long 

 tangled grass that fringed them, and entered into the 

 cool aisles formed by their bare stems, while overhead, 

 though to me it had seemed perfectly calm outside, there 

 was a subdued murmur, pleasant to hear, rising from the 

 overhanging leaves that all but shut out the sky. 



I had come down hoping to find water, having had 

 none that day, and before going many yards I found 

 some in the great deep footprint made by an elephant at 

 some former period, when the ground was soft after wet 

 weather ; it was very drinkable, though perhaps not very 

 inviting-looking, especially to any one unaccustomed to 

 thankfully drink anything sufficiently liquid to be swal- 

 lowed, without knowing, or, at any rate, without caring to 

 investigate, what its component parts might be. 



