WILD DOGS. 291 



face wore a grave expression. Pointing with his hand, 

 he uttered the magic word, " Taow!" the Bechuana for 

 lion. 



Taking my double gun, I followed him ; but although 

 he endeavoured to point out something, for the life 

 of me I could not see it. Indicating by gestures that 

 he wished me to sit down, I did so, and he took a 

 place by my side. There was some scrub between 

 us where the lion was supposed to be, and if there 

 were an animal there it could not leave its retreat 

 without offering a shot. For a quarter of an hour we 

 kept guard, and our inactivity began to become irksome, 

 when first one, then a second specimen of wild dog 

 came forth, and coolly stared at us. Unless they had 

 been lying at length on the ground, it appeared im- 

 possible that they could have remained so long un- 

 seen. Did I shoot at them ? I hear asked. No, not 

 for the world. They were such grand animals, such 

 thorough-looking sportsmen, that I gazed at them in 

 silent admiration, wishing I were the possessor of both. 

 They must have stood nearly thirty inches at the 

 shoulder, looked like a cross between a greyhound and 

 mastiff, and were a beautiful rich fawn-colour. After 

 surveying me for a couple of minutes, they walked 

 coolly off, as if the presence of man were to them a 

 matter of the most perfect indifference. 



A pack of these wild dogs, consisting of forty or 

 fifty members, is known to exist within a few miles of 

 this locality. They have frequently been seen hunting, 

 and the Boers whom I so lately left have suffered severely 

 from their depredations. It is reported that even the 

 lion occasionally is assailed by them and killed. When 

 these encounters take place, they generally originate 



T2 



