26 BIG GAME FIELDS 



perai scent a wounded animal, or even man, they 

 will crowd around in shoals and devour the object 

 alive. 



Finally, having engaged four blacks or bush- 

 men, and laid in the amount of stores calculated 

 to be necessary for myself and crew of six (my 

 two native Indians or trackers we were to pick 

 up a few miles up-river), I was ready and 

 anxious to get away into the heart of nature. 







Through the thin, opaque light of a faint gray 

 dawn, I moved on down to the water's edge, 

 where the curial and men were in waiting "Old 

 Shikari's" tall, spare figure loomed up indistinctly 

 on the bank. He was giving some final instruc- 

 tions to the men; then their paddles sank deep 

 into the dark, ominous-looking water and we 

 swung out into the river. The figure on the bank 

 grew dim, then faded and became a part of the 

 billowy white mist that floated as gracefully as a 

 white swan above the water. Soundlessly we 

 slipped along, crossed to the other side of the 

 river and headed up along the west bank so as 

 to avoid the current. The outlying houses and 

 huts dropped away, the river narrowed, and the 

 great barricading jungle walls rose sheer from 

 the water's edge. No sound was falling, for it 



