BIG GAME 59 



at the boy, but just to leave him to carry the rifle 

 any way he h'kes, the sportsman himself taking the 

 precaution of either shutting all the cartridges into 

 the magazine, if it happens to be a magazine rifle, 

 or if a single, to carry the cartridge in his hand 

 ready to slip it into the breech when the boy hands 

 him the weapon. 



Just a simple precaution like this may save many 

 a serious accident ; and as shots at big game are 

 not often taken hurriedly, especially in dense country, 

 no real time is lost in the loading of the rifle, and 

 if done carefully and expeditiously, the quarry seldom 

 hears the click of the lock. 



Seeing Game. — For the beginner, perhaps one 

 of the difficult things in big-game shooting is seeing 

 the game in any sort of cover ; this is not easy, and 

 even after considerable practice the largest beasts 

 can still be overlooked. 



To the " old hand," seeing game comes easier, and 

 the writer can well remember in his early days in 

 Africa how time after time klipspringer and rhe- 

 buck were pointed out to him and he failed to see 

 them until they moved. 



In the dry, arid country near the mouth of the 

 Orange River, klipspringer were plentiful ; some 

 delightful days were spent in hunting them in tlieir 

 mountain homes. 



On one occasion a pair were spotted by the 

 native guide, one standing up and the other lying 



