chap. vii. HUNTING WITH DOGS. 329 



headed him at once. He now got stupid, ran first one 

 way and then another, and after a run of nine minutes 

 allowed the dogs to pull him down, making scarcely any 

 effort to escape. 



The moral that I gained from this day's experience, 

 and which I afterwards repeatedly proved true, was that 

 a single hound will rarely run into an oribi, but that two 

 or three, even though not very fast, will do so with com- 

 parative ease, if they run cleverly. 



I have already alluded to the death of my first dog, 

 Usipingo. It occurred in a very sad way, viz. by my own 

 hand. It happened while we were shooting a jungle on 

 the Natal coast. I was stationed so as to command a 

 narrow footpath, and my boy was standing with the dog 

 a few paces further back. He had been told not to slip 

 it without my telling him to do so, principally in order 

 that it might be at hand if wanted for a wounded ante- 

 lope, and should not unnecessarily damage itself with the 

 great thorns. However, a female bush-buck rushing 

 past within a yard was too great a temptation, and the 

 dog was either allowed to go, or, as the boy said, broke 

 away ; she passed through a patch of jungle, and then, 

 turning, crossed the path I was watching. I knew no- 

 thing about Usipingo's being after her, and fired, break- 

 ing the antelope's back, and it was not till half-an-hour 

 afterwards that on going to the place I found the dog on 

 one side and the antelope on the other, both dead. I 

 had fired with large shot, which had scattered a great 

 deal, and a single pellet had struck him on the head. I 

 afterwards had faster dogs, and some with better noses, 

 but I never had his equal in common sense. When he 



