chap. vir. HUNTING WITH DOGS. 345 



the still motionless koodoo, and fired, the precipice rolling 

 back the sound in repeated echoes for a couple of minutes 

 after. My bullet, after passing through the antelope, 

 which with a bound fell back dead, struck the water, and 

 then I saw it throw up the sand not a hundred yards in 

 front of the advancing natives. I had not taken into con- 

 sideration the chance of its passing through the koodoo's 

 body, and was considerably alarmed at seeing it do so ; 

 however, no one was hurt, though the natives, thinking 

 that it was one of my hunters who had fired, began to 

 swear at me, until they got such an answer back as they 

 knew no black man durst give them, and immediately 

 shut up. The water-antelope, which had succeeded in 

 gaining a footing on the bank, was so astonished by the 

 report of the gun right above it that it jumped back into 

 the river and swam down, and after three shots at its 

 head I succeeded with the last in killing it. The natives 

 then shouted to me to shoot the remaining koodoo for 

 them, and that some of their number would then come 

 round by the ford, and entering the water from my side, 

 would fetch out all three. This I did, and a dozen men soon 

 made their appearance, and dashing in with a great deal of 

 noise and splashing to frighten the crocodiles, they dragged 

 the two koodoos ashore. The water-antelope was floating 

 in deep water, and it was anything but a pleasant task to 

 swim out to it, but a couple of men consented to do so on 

 condition that I should fire an occasional shot to keep off 

 the crocodiles, and though the river was swarming with 

 them, it was performed in safety. It was even more 

 remarkable that none of the dogs had been taken, especially 

 before I began to fire ; but these reptiles are miserable 



