ANTELOPES 131 



crickets and the occasional call of a nightjar. Suddenly 

 with a crash so sudden as to bring us to a full stop, some- 

 thing dashes out of the bush and across the road close in 

 front. It is much too dark to distinguish the nature of 

 the animal, and an irrepressible feeling of comfort fills 

 the mind when it is reflected that predatory beasts are 

 practically unknown in this happy valley. 



Now, from the kraals dotted about on the neighbouring 

 hills, chanticleer takes up his task. First one cock, then 

 another, then several together, herald the coming dawn : 

 it is possible, in the still air, to hear them at a great 

 distance. Presently the tiniest streak of light appears 

 on the eastern horizon, and we hurry on faster, for it is 

 necessary to be on the spot in good time. We have left 

 the wagon track, and are plunging down a narrow 

 winding path leading to the large bush and reed-bordered 

 " pan," which is a sure early morning find for the animals. 



A big shape looms up a dozen paces in front and melts 

 silently away into the indistinct shadows. Certainly an 

 inyala. See, here is the very place for concealment. A 

 dense patch of covert, isolated in the midst of a perfectly 

 open strip some eighty yards wide, which slopes easily 

 down to the " pan," of which the grey-looking water is 

 just beginning to be dimly visible. On our left is an 

 impenetrable tangle of densest bush, stretching away for 

 miles along the banks of the Usutu ; on our right it 

 gradually thins out into more open country, the nightly 

 feeding-ground of the animals we have come to watch. 

 Here, where they are little molested, they will remain 

 out in the open until some little while after sunrise, when 

 they will slowly make their way back to the water, and, 

 after drinking, will immerse themselves in the densest 

 part of the forbidding tangle of thorns and creepers which 

 they call home. With the possible exception of a midday 



