There was nothing to be seen; but Jantje judged the 

 position and yelled out a warning to his master whom he 

 guessed to be coming through the bush to look for him, 

 and at the same time he made what noise he could in the 

 tree top to make the buffalo think he was coming down. 

 The animal looked round from time to time with 

 swings and tosses of the head and threatening angry 

 sneezes, much as one sees a cow do when standing 

 between her young calf and threatened danger : it 

 was defending Jantje, for his own purposes, and 

 facing the danger. 



For many minutes there was dead silence : no answer 

 came to Jantje's call, and the bull stood its ground 

 glaring and sniffing towards the bush. At last there 

 was a heavy thud below, instantly followed by the 

 report of the rifle the bullet came faster than the 

 sound ; the buffalo gave a heavy plunge and with a 

 grunting sob slid forward on its chest. 



Round the camp fire at night Jantje used to tell tales 

 in which fact, fancy, and superstition were curiously 

 mingled ; and Jantje when not out of humour was 

 free with his stories. The boys, for whose benefit 

 they were told, listened open-mouthed ; and I often 

 stood outside the ring of gaping boys at their fire, an 

 interested listener. 



The tale of his experiences with the honey-bird 

 which he had cheated of its share was the first I heard 

 him tell. Who could say how much was fact, how 

 much fancy, and how much the superstitions of his 

 race ? Not even Jantje knew that ! He believed it 

 all. 



346 



