76 THE SHIKARI 



hand or head, so that if one of you sights game he can 

 attract the attention of the others without speaking ; 

 the human voice carries far, and will alarm most 

 animals. 



Even with agreed signs fatal mistakes can be made 

 and the wrong thing done at the wrong moment ; and 

 this brings vividly before the writer's memory a thick 

 and tangled patch of bush and a man and himself 

 spooring a kudu bull, which was at last come up to 

 and galloped off without even being sighted. 



So we gave it up and walked out on to a small open 

 patch (mistake No. i) to have a look round and light 

 a pipe, and the man was handed the rifle to hold. 



But a few seconds had passed when the man gave a 

 low but distinct whistle, and there, not ten yards away 

 and just inside the bush, stalked past the magnifi- 

 cent bull. 



The whistle did it though, and we had but a fleeting 

 glimpse of his fine proportions and graceful horns 

 before he vanished with a crash into the tangled 

 woods. 



Whistling was the second and fatal mistake. The 

 bull was too close and could hear it distinctly ; and 

 had the man silently and quickly thrust the rifle 

 into my hand without a word or other sign, a snap- 

 shot might have been successful, or maybe he hadn't 

 seen us, and a more certain one could have been taken. 



Dangerous Game. — In the tracking and shooting 

 of dangerous game, as buffalo, elephant, lion and tiger, 



