and five minutes later drank it again and then lay 

 down. 



For half an hour it lay there, slowly recovering ; 

 sometimes for spells of a few minutes it appeared to 

 breathe normally once more ; then the heavy open- 

 mouthed panting would return again ; and all the 

 time Teddy kept on stroking or patting it gently 

 and talking to it as if he were comforting a child, and 

 every now and then bursting out with sudden gusty 

 execrations, in his own particular style, of wild dogs 

 and kaffirs. At last it rose briskly, and standing be- 

 tween his knees looked about, taking no notice of 

 Teddy's hands laid on either side and gently patting it. 

 No one moved or spoke. Jock, at my feet, appeared 

 most interested of all, but I am afraid his views differed 

 considerably from ours on that occasion, and he must 

 have been greatly puzzled ; he remained watching 

 intently with his head laid on his paws, his ears cocked, 

 and his brown eyes fixed unblinkingly ; and at each 

 movement on the buck's part something stirred in him, 

 drawing every muscle tense and ready for the spring- 

 internal grips which were reflected in the twitching 

 and stiffening of his neck and back ; but each time as 

 I laid a hand on him he slackened out again and 

 subsided. 



We sat like statues as the impala walked out from 

 its stall between Teddy's knees, and stood looking 

 about wonderingly at the faces white and black, at the 

 strange figures, and at the fire. It stepped out quite 

 quietly, much as it might have moved about here and 

 there any peaceful morning in its usual haunts ; the 



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