258 LARGE GAME. CHAP. v. 



the further end of the hut, returning no answer to my 

 words when I told them to come out with me and face 

 the brute, though, as I opened the hut-entrance and 

 looked out on the pitch darkness, it was evident how use- 

 less any such attempt would be. The death-yell we had 

 heard was followed by silence for some time, during which 

 the brute was probably departing with its victim, and the 

 natives were still afraid of its return, and then the usual 

 noisy lamentations for the dead broke forth, and were 

 continued without intermission until daylight, though I 

 was so tired that, without expecting it, I fell asleep again, 

 and did not awake any more that night. 



There was little to tell when morning did break. The 

 brute had hit upon the most crowded hut of all, the one 

 in which the people who had given place to us were sleep- 

 ing in addition to its regular owners, and had picked out 

 a young married woman, taking her from among several, 

 and without injuring any one else ; as they said, " A man 

 does not stab more than one of his herd of cattle when he 

 is hungry." 



Previous to this, on my first arrival, the head man of 

 the district had come and asked me whether I would 

 assist him to destroy this brute, as, if so, he would turn 

 out with all his people, and would beat up the country 

 until it was found ; and in point of fact we had already 

 done this, on the occasion of the chief's uncle having been 

 carried off, but the ground was then dry and hard, and 

 our best spoorers failed to hit off the track. To-day, 

 however, as the rain had ceased a few minutes after its 

 departure, there could be no doubt about finding it, and 

 as soon as I awoke I sent off to the chief to ask him to 



