198 ON SAFARI 



luck," one half-liour of bright moonliglit, might have 

 changed all and given us what we sought. No such aid 

 occurred : it was j)erhaps kismet once more, and this 

 time on the " thumbs-down " side. 



The off' chance offered by the full moon was annihi- 

 lated when her gentle light — never too clear for night- 

 shooting — was obscured by murky storm-clouds, and we 

 could no more. 



The following are my brother's impressions of this 

 venture : — " I regret now that we did not spend another 

 week or so pushing forward into the Sotik, although 

 I admit that, at the time, it seemed a forlorn 

 hope. 



" When one reads of buffalo-shooting in the olden 

 days, right out in the open, truly it astonishes one to 

 think how astutely the great bovines have adapted their 

 habit to modern necessity and developed a secretiveness 

 not naturally theirs. 



" Against this, I had the services of a native tracker 

 whose skill in woodcraft was alone worth some sacrifice 

 to watch. Through the densest thickets of these tangled 

 forests wherein buffalo now spend the livelong day, he 

 led me again and again right into the beasts all asleep 

 in their dark and gloomy stronghold. AVhat followed 

 each time was a snort and a mighty crash — they had 

 gone, ploughing a way through bush and brake, and 

 never once had 1 the luck to see them. 



"When the moon waxed full, we tried to cultivate 

 a closer acquaintance on those open glades of natural 

 pasturage which are of such frequent occurrence in these 

 forests, and on which the buffalo feed by night. We 

 spent great part of our nights watching these spots, and 

 a weird experience it was. As darkness overshadowed 

 the scene, the first peculiarity that attracted attention 

 was a succession of hideous shrieks, issuing, it seemed, 

 from various points of the compass. We wondered 

 what animal, or bird, could possibly be guilty of such 

 enormities, and were but slightly reassured on learning 



