342 LARGE GAME. CHAP. vn. 



was to come down on the morrow for the purpose of 

 hunting as trip of country some three miles long by two 

 broad which lay between the river and the mountain, 

 and to request that I would send my hunters to guard 

 the fords across the river, as well as a narrow pass in the 

 gorge, on the condition that they should give us all the 

 hides of the large game killed, while they could take all 

 the meat away. Of course, I had no objection to this 

 arrangement, which suited both parties, especially as I 

 knew that the ground to be beaten generally contained a 

 few buffalo, and always a large number of koodoo and 

 water-antelopes ; and so next morning, after watching the 

 long line of natives wind down the almost perpendicular 

 hill, on which they looked no bigger than a file of ants, we 

 all started to take up our positions some (for we were 

 many, and the fords few) crossing over and joining the 

 natives, while each of the remainder chose a station along 

 the river banks, and I wandered from one to another as 

 the game got driven further and further down. I was, 

 however, unlucky in getting shots, though the frequent 

 firing, both after I had passed and in front of me, and 

 occasionally a glimpse of game rushing along the opposite 

 bank in search of a ford, proved that my men were getting 

 their share ; while the continual hunting cries raised by 

 the natives concealed in the jungle told that they were 

 not allowing all the game to pass unscathed. At last I 

 determined to go down to the pass in the gorge through 

 which I was sure that at least some of the water-antelopes 

 would pass, and while, on my way there I saw two koodoo 

 bulls break out of the bush, with an old water-buck close 

 behind them, and followed by a small pack of Kaffir dogs. 



