eagerness for its prey. Jantje hooked his toe in the 

 reim sling of his old gun and slowly gathered it up 

 without moving his eyes from the tiger's, and back- 

 ing away slowly, foot by foot, he got out into the 

 sunshine and made off as fast as he could. 



It was the honey-bird's revenge : he knew it then ! 



He sat down on some bare ground to think what 

 next to do ; for he knew he must die if he did not find 

 honey and make good a hundred times what he had 

 cheated. 



All day long he kept meeting honey-birds and follow- 

 ing them ; but he would no longer follow them into 

 the bad places, for he could not tell whether they 

 were new birds or the one he had robbed ! Once he 

 had nearly been caught ; the bird had perched on an 

 old ant-heap, and Jantje, thinking there was a ground 

 hive there, walked boldly forward. A small misshapen 

 tree grew out of the ant-heap, and one of the twisted 

 branches caught his eye because of the 

 thick ring around it : it was the coil 

 of a long green mamba; and far below 

 that, half hidden by the leaves, hung 

 the snake's head with the neck gathered 

 in half-loop coils ready to strike at him. 



After that Jantje kept in the open, 

 searching for himself among rocks and 

 in all the old dead trees for the tell-tale stains that 

 mark the hive's entrance ; but he had no luck, and 

 when he reached the river in the early afternoon he 

 was glad of a cool drink and a place to rest. 



For a couple of hours he had seen no honey-birds, 



349 



