TRUE HUNTING 79 



by patience and a practised eye ; while the size 

 and shape, the depth and direction of the track, 

 will each one tell its story to the tracker. 



To examine grass and shrub for signs of feeding, 

 and know when game have fed ; to study the 

 animal you pursue, and gain a knowledge of the 

 place you hunt in ; to follow up a beast, track 

 by track, over earth and stones, through grassy 

 plain and leaf-filled forest, and find the track 

 where hidden under stone or blade or leaf ; and 

 then to bring your game to view : that is hunting ! 



A fair head obtained like this is better far than 

 a record met at hazard and shot with ease. 



Chance is a wayward mistress ! For two days 

 I had tracked from morning to midday, and from 

 afternoon to well into night, without ever bringing 

 my tracking to the view of a good bull. Cows we 

 came across in this way, and some photographs 

 were obtained, but neither of the two bulls that 

 roamed this country could ever be tracked home. 

 Once I got so close to an old bull, after hours of 

 tracking, that I smelt him, though neither of the 

 two natives with me could do so, nor would they 

 believe that this little gift, which has often helped 

 me in my hunting, was true, till the bull dashed 

 off from close beside us in the bush. 



Then came the turn of Mistress Chance, for 

 while walking back to camp in the early morning 

 after my second night of watching, I saw my 

 friend the big bull sable grazing in a forest clearing, 

 a few hundred yards away. The stalk was very 

 easy, and the great head of 60 inches fell to a 

 single shot. 



