CHAPTER XVII. 



A HERD OF GAME IN A DIFFICULTY. 



MY task had been done effectually, no second shots 

 were therefore required to complete my work ; but, 

 although I knew that none of the flesh would be 

 lost, I have no hesitation in saying that I was not 

 happy, for I have an unconquerable aversion to 

 being a slayer. Believe me, reader, I would many 

 times rather see another shoot than do it myself. 

 Of course this is mere straining at a gnat and 

 swallowing a camel; but, call it what you like, the 

 feeling exists. 



When I was about to approach my victims, I 

 became aware that more game was coming from the., 

 windward direction ; and, judging from the dust they' 

 made, I concluded that they must be, numerically, a> 

 most formidable body. So, with bent back, but rapid 

 strides, I cut across an intervening space of open 

 country, rapidly entered some brush, through which 

 I advanced nearly a hundred yards, and so gained a 

 screen that, unless something unusual occurred, must 

 be in immediate proximity of their future passage. 



