100 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



bowl, then force the tobacco in so hard that all draught 

 is impeded ; puff, puff go your cheeks without response ; 

 then you become more angry, till it strikes you of a 

 sudden what a fool you are to give way to such temper : 

 you recover yourself, and enjoy your smoke. 



Meditatively, then, on this occasion I filled my pipe, 

 for I thought of those who had just left me and of the 

 future before me. I lit it, but the overhanging portion 

 blew off ; I was, therefore, going to light another match 

 when I heard a noise as of a sharp slap upon the rocks. 

 Putting my pipe down, and gently turning to face the 

 sound, I saw a matured bush-buck to windward of me, 

 and, judging from his manner, intently studying the 

 pony, now about a couple of hundred yards off. My 

 presence the game was evidently perfectly ignorant of, 

 still he appeared angry ; the little mane along his 

 withers was erect, and he looked not unlike the village 

 goat who knows that the hour has arrived for the 

 schoolboys to burst forth into liberty from their late 

 restraint. Quietly picking up my rifle, at point-blank 

 range I fired at his russet flank ; I heard the ball strike, 

 still I saw the buck go down the hillside with all 

 his legs in their right places. Well, it was a shot 

 that none but a duffer could miss ; the object of aim 

 was not seventy yards off, and stood considerably taller 

 than a Leicester sheep. As I was shoving in a fresh 

 cartridge, very indifferent whether the poor beast was 

 hit or not, up came Bonty, immediately behind him 

 Bob, to the very place where the bush-buck had stood, 

 and in a moment both turned off, and, going their best, 

 followed the course he had taken. For ten minutes I 

 remained looking down into the hollow beneath, hoping 

 to see the game at bay ; but in this I was disappointed, 



