Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



make for. Arriving there alone I off-saddled, tied 

 up my pony, and lay down for forty winks under 

 a tree. I was just dozing off when I heard a 

 rustling, and looking round saw a large black 

 snake sitting up within a few feet of my head. I 

 moved. The other incident was that at night I 

 heard a most peculiar scratching noise all about 

 the inside of my tent. It takes a lot to keep me 

 awake, and this didn't. But next day, while I was 

 out hunting, my boys found that my bed was 

 directly over a nest of very large scorpions, and 

 killed eighteen of them. I shot on this occasion 

 a very good bush-buck, the best of these heads 

 that I ever got ; also a huge baboon, that my 

 carriers roasted whole. I was glad that my 

 soldiers would have nothing to do with it, for 

 anything more like a human being being cooked 

 I never wish to see. 



Once about this time a white N.C.O. attached 

 to my company essayed to kill a buck. He was 

 with two companions, but lost them and himself. 

 Next day I took out the company to look for him, 

 but we couldn't follow his spoor. The following 

 day every available soldier in the place came out, 

 with no result. The third day every available 

 soldier and as many natives as we could collect in 

 the town were equally unsuccessful. The fourth 

 day my company were worn out, but I called for 

 volunteers, and every man who could walk rolled 



220 



