6o THE SHIKARI 



down, just below us, and not more than 50 yards 

 away ; and yet it took the writer quite an appreciable 

 time to make them out at all, they so resembled 

 the surrounding rocks and were as still as statues. 



On a shooting trip taken with a friend in South 

 America — a friend who was new at the game — the 

 writer pointed out two large deer standing at the 

 edge of a forest and quite in the open, and his friend 

 failed to see them. 



We got down and stalked up to within about 80 

 yards, and even then he could not make them out, 

 and it was not till he was shown the exact trees they 

 were standing in front of that he saw them, and then 

 he was surprised to realize that, though he had been 

 looking straight at them all the time, he had really 

 been looking through them. 



We were lucky, with my friend's head waggling about 

 trying to see something, in securing them both. 



Zebra are perhaps the most conspicuous of beasts 

 when seen in a Zoo, but put them in a palmetto- 

 covered country and they lend themselves so 

 beautifully to it that the oldest hand will sometimes 

 overlook them. 



In following on spoor a very sharp lookout has to 

 be kept, so that the quarry does not see you before 

 you see it, and though perhaps it may not travel 

 far, it may mean a long tramp before it can be 

 again sighted : and in some districts where game 

 has been hunted by natives with dogs, or much harried 



