"GONE TO THE FORT" 139 



some sort, charged with slugs and looking hard at 

 the opening. The gun had gone off during the night, 

 and the ground was soaked with blood. A few yards 

 off there was another great swamp of blood. The 

 beast had staggered away and lain down for a while, 

 faint and sick. Then it had got up and crawled 

 home, still dripping with blood, by which we tracked 

 it for a good distance, but the trace grew gradually 

 fainter and at last ceased altogether. 



" It has gone to the fort," said the men — " bags 

 always go to the fort." I pointed out that, if it 

 had meant to go to the fort, it would have gone 

 towards the fort, instead of in another direction ; 

 but the argument did not move them. " The fort 

 is a jungle, and where else should a ' bag ' take 

 refuge but in a jungle ? " However, I was obstinate, 

 and pursued the original direction until we arrived 

 at the brow of the hill, where it sloped steeply down 

 to the sea. The whole slope, for half a mile, was 

 covered with a dense scrub of Lantana bushes. This 

 is another plant introduced in some by-gone century 

 from South America, and planted first in gardens for 

 its profuse clusters of red and pink verbena-like 

 blossoms (it is a near relation of the garden verbena), 

 whence it has spread like the rabbit in New Zealand, 

 and become a nuisance. " There," I cried, pointing 

 at the scrub, " there, without doubt, your wounded 

 ' bag ' is lying." 



Some of the men, unbelieving still, were amusing 

 themselves by rolling large stones down the slope, 



