DROVES OF GAME, 



279 



renewed. Now I got my first glimpse of the beaters, 

 but only of four or five, and they were a long way 

 behind the game, which was still considerably over 

 a mile distant from me. At this time I thought 

 that the plans of men and mice were about to be 

 verified, for a restless cow hartebeest^ with a big 

 following, seemed to be resolved to break off to the 

 eastward. For this purpose she and her party had 

 gone about two hundred yards at a sharp trot, and 

 I was about to shut up my glasses in despair, when 

 first one black head and then another popped up, 

 directly in the route that the animals intended 

 taking. This was sufficient, back came the sus- 

 picious beasts, who joined the ruck of comrades they 

 had previously left. At length I could distinguish 

 nearly all the natives, and clearly make out their 

 formation, which was lunette shaped, with the horns 

 thrown forward. The beaters covered'an immense 

 distance, yet I doubt if there were a hundred of them 

 all told. The cautious manner in which they 

 advanced, and the correctness with which they 

 kept their distance, were specimens of light infantry 

 tactics that I never saw beaten even by the Rifle 

 Brigade. 



The Massara guide now indicated that it was 

 time for us to take up our respective posts, a 

 minute sufficed for me to gain mine, William I saw 

 for an instant immediately afterwards, but what had 

 become of the bushman I could not imagine, so 

 abrupt and unaccountable had been his disappear- 

 ance that the earth might have swallowed him. 



I soon ceased to wonder, as I had other affairs to 

 attract my attention, for the droves of game were 

 now getting within measurable distance. They did 

 not hurry, nor did they appear alarmed, for doubt- 

 less they only dreaded the foes whose presence they 

 were aware of, and they were now a long way 

 behind. The whole body of wild animals must have 



