90 LARGE GAME. chap. II. 



feet from the ground, and in about half an hour I heard 

 a rustling at my feet which continued for some time, 

 though, as the storm had passed, and it was pitch dark, 

 I could not see what made it, but next morning I dis- 

 covered by the spoor that it had been a lion, and on fol- 

 lowing it back, I found that it was the identical one I 

 had fired at, and which, after making a detour, had come 

 to pay me a visit, and must, from the way the grass was 

 crushed, have been lying for some time within easy 

 springing distance of me. 



The pool that I have mentioned was one that, being 

 fed by a spring, never dried up, and possessed such deep 

 clear water, that the game came long distances to it, pre- 

 ferring it to the river, as being cooler. It was about fifty 

 yards long, and surrounded by a fringe of thick evergreens, 

 except at the upper end, where it was shallow and muddy, 

 and where the animals entered it when they came to 

 drink. My hiding-place was in the thick branches of a 

 great cabbage-tree, just opposite the spot where the buf- 

 faloes generally stood when drinking, and about ten yards 

 from where the rhinoceroses were accustomed to roll. 

 On one occasion I remained here without moving for two 

 nights and a day, sleeping in the shade at the foot of the 

 tree during the noonday heat, and watching all night ; a 

 piece of sun-dried meat I had brought with me supplying 

 me with food. This freak created great alarm in my camp, 

 as I had left it at early dawn, before any one was awake ; 

 and though on the first night it was supposed that I had 

 killed some game and was sleeping by it, yet when another 

 day, followed by a night, passed without my appearing, 

 the general idea was that I had met with some accident ; 



