chap. vi. LEOPARDS. 291 



Common as the ingwe is, it is, owing to their nocturnal 

 habits and the thickness of the jungles they lie in, seldom 

 that one is seen, but any one who is continually hunting 

 will occasionally come across them by accident, and on 

 several occasions I have obtained shots at them in this 

 way. Once, when hunting along the banks of the Pongolo, 

 the dog that accompanied us suddenly wheeled to wind- 

 ward, and growling furiously, went slowly up in that 

 direction. We at once guessed what it had scented, as 

 no other animal would have made it show such anger, and 

 at the same time so much caution, and it was not long 

 before the fresh imprint of a leopard's foot in the soft sand 

 by the river confirmed our suspicions. The brute had no 

 doubt seen or heard us, and had made off in that stealthy 

 manner they are accustomed to use when stealing away 

 unobserved from some danger which their keen senses 

 have pointed out to them, and it was not before we had 

 gone nearly half a mile that we saw by the dog's bristling 

 up, and its hesitation in advancing, that we were close to 

 it. There was a small belt of thick bushes lining the river, 

 into which the track now led, and I ran up to guard the 

 one end of it, while the hunter who was with me stayed 

 below. Hardly a second elapsed before the dog gave 

 tongue, and soon afterwards we could tell that the leopard 

 was at bay. I ran as fast as I could in the direction of 

 the sound, but was only in time to see it, with its back 

 arched and every hair on end, break away, and, without 

 giving either of us a chance to fire, bound through the 

 bushes, and passing through the w T aste high grass which 

 concealed it beyond, head for another cover a little higher 

 up. To this we at once followed it, still led by the dog, 



