CHAP. viii. ANECDOTES OF ANTELOPES. 381 



for us to attempt to beat it all out, and we selected a 

 long, but narrow strip which ran out from the main jungle 

 as more suited to our numbers. The spot chosen by me 

 as a station was a clearing in the bush about half a mile 

 from where the beaters went in, and which divided the 

 jungle into two parts. It had originally been the same 

 as the rest, but had been cleared some few years back by 

 the natives as a maize garden, who had now, after ex- 

 hausting the soil, permitted the scrub which covered it 

 to the height of some three feet to grow up. It was on 

 the slope of a very steep hill, and as the best pass, being 

 near the bottom, did not command the upper portion, I 

 sent the hunter above me. For some time after our 

 arrival everything remained quiet, the silence only broken 

 by an occasional shout from the beaters ; but at last the 

 dogs that accompanied them began to give tongue, and it 

 was evident from their notes that several head of game 

 must be on foot. The antelopes seemed to be circling 

 about, doubling on their pursuers, and unwilling to break 

 cover, but after some minutes I heard a slight rustle in 

 front, and a second afterwards a little blue buck, having 

 succeeded in throwing the dogs out, stole along the path 

 which I was watching. From the height of the under- 

 brush it was necessarily very near before I saw it, or 

 could fire, so that when I did so it dropped lifeless on the 

 spot, and before reloading I removed its body from the 

 path for fear that its presence there might turn anything 

 else that came that way. Suddenly, while loading, I 

 heard a great uproar in the jungle below, and was warned 

 by shouts of " nkonka enhla " that one of the great bush 

 bucks was coming our way. 



