OSSABOO. 295 



camp, where we found Wilson flown ; he 

 had left word that, being unable to shoot, 

 he could not stand idleness, and had gone 

 back, to bring up my sharp-sighted friend, 

 Ossaroo, who had not as yet joined us, 

 and whom we were afraid might not come. 

 We could ill spare his eye. He was 

 remarkable for the most wonderful power 

 of vision, I ever witnessed in man; his eye 

 was as useful as a telescope. Originally 

 a shepherd, he was now one of the best 

 shikaries in the hills, and possessed, more- 

 over, the good quality of silence, and seldom 

 spoke ; when he did, he used as few words 

 as possible, and was sometimes, by no 

 means complimentary, in his answers. He 

 was out upon one occasion, with Wilson 

 and myself, and pointing out to him a black 

 object, a long way oft', that rather puzzled 

 us, asked whether it was not a bear ? " A 

 bear ! " he replied, " one of you has grown 

 grey, and the other bald, and yet you 

 ask me, if the black stump of a tree is a 

 bear!" 



