A SAD MISTAKE 



little later there seemed to come from the forest 

 the sound of a falling body, and then stillness. 



" It would have been safer to wait for the 

 dawn. The lioness was possibly somewhere near 

 the stream, and to be in the forest at night with 

 her was unwise. Her very presence, however, did 

 but increase my desire to guard this new animal, 

 and what I thought a great trophy, from beirsi' 

 eaten by the lioness or other prowling thing that 

 lived on flesh. 



" It was difficult work trying to follow in the 

 track of the wounded animal, and one was un- 

 certain how dangerous a wounded giant hog 

 might be in the dark. In half an hour, when only 

 100 yards of track had been followed, I saw some- 

 thing which looked too dark for a shadow. It 

 was not a shadow. It was a dead animal a sable 

 a sable with a small, deformed body. An injury 

 to the hind legs in early life had made them 

 much shorter than the fore legs, and thus given 

 the antelope a sloping back like that of a hyaena 

 or a hog. The horns were close set and small 

 for a sable, though all such horns are so big that 

 it is difficult to understand how I failed to see 

 them. Perhaps it was the darkness, the height 

 of the platform above the ground, or my excite- 

 ment." 



Whatever the reason, a sad mistake had been 

 made, and any big-game hunter will realize the 

 bitterness of my disappointment. 



The only animals that any sportsman m?w 

 shoot at night watches arc carmvorn, or, rs; in rhi--. 

 case, something which appeared rare anr new to 



