Every hunt was exciting and interesting for us, even 

 those in which we got nothing ; indeed some of the 

 most interesting were those in which the worst disap- 

 pointments occurred, when after hard work and long 

 chases the game escaped us. To tell all that happened 

 would be to tell the same old story many times over ; 

 but indeed, it would not be possible to tell all, for 

 there were some things the most interesting of all, 

 perhaps which only Jock knew. 



After the fight with the duiker there was never 

 any doubt as to what he would do if allowed to follow 

 up a wounded animal. It made a deal of difference 

 in the hunting to know that he could be trusted to 

 find it and hold on or bay it until I could get up. 

 The bush was so thick that it was not possible to see 

 more than a very few hundred yards at best, and the 

 country was so dry and rough that if a wounded animal 

 once got out of sight only an expert tracker had any 

 chance of finding it again. Jock soon showed himself 

 to be better than the best of trackers, for besides never 

 losing the trail he would either pull down the buck 

 or, if too big for that, attack and worry even the 

 biggest of them to such an extent that they would have 

 to keep turning on him to protect themselves and thus 

 give me the chance to catch up. 



But the first result of my confidence in him was 

 some perfectly hopeless chases. It is natural enough 

 to give oneself the benefit of any doubt ; the enthu- 

 siastic beginner always does so, and in his case the 

 lack of experience often creates a doubt where none 

 should have existed; and the doubt is often very 



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