

A BAD SHOT. 165 



they had been lately disturbed by the sight or smell 

 of their powerful enemy. 



Afterwards we adjourned to a kloof, pretty well 

 covered with bush, and in parts possessed of very 

 rough and precipitous sides. Here there were the 

 same indications of the brute's presence, but nothing 

 more. We had agreed not to fire at anything but 

 the game we sought, the report to be considered a 

 call of assembly to the place from where it sounded ; 

 so, in case of bad shooting or other causes, aid would 

 be available. But, in spite of this, I became a sinner; 

 nor could I help it. It was in this way. All were 

 walking in a lunette-shaped line, I being on a flank, 

 the left. For some minutes the baboons had been 

 exceedingly noisy, and, at intervals, making more 

 than usual hostile demonstrations considerably to our 

 front. As a matter of course, I supposed that our 

 intrusion into their domain was the cause of their 

 fuss ; but when I got a momentary glance of a 

 leopard through an opening in the bush, I then 

 knew well what had excited the wrath of the apes. 



Although I used every effort to get a second 

 view of Master Spots, I was for some time disap- 

 pointed. However, just as we were getting to the 

 end of the beat, and by far the most precipitous part 

 of it, I caught sight of the leopard stealing from behind 

 a rock, pass over a few yards of open bare ground, 

 and then enter a kloof. I fired, but did so too hur- 

 riedly, for the ball struck the ground at least a couple 



