134 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA, 



them I did not give chase. After this I came upon a 

 huge crocodile basking on the sand, which instantly 

 dashed into the stream. I now got into a vast laby- 

 rinth of marshes of great extent. Several species of 

 wild duck and a variety of water-fowl were extreme- 

 ly abundant and very tame, hundreds passing before 

 my eyes at once; Guinea-fowl, three sorts of large 

 partridge, and two kinds of quail being likewise nu- 

 merous. 



I presently wounded a noble old water-buck as he 

 dashed past rhe in marshy ground. In following him 

 up I met an old buck pallah, which I shot dead on the 

 spot with a ball in the middle of the breast. Follow- 

 ing on after the wounded water-buck, along the high 

 bank of the river, which was, however, concealed from 

 my view by the dense cover, I suddenly heard a loud 

 splash, and, coming suddenly clear of the cover, beheld 

 the lovely water-buck standing broadside on an island 

 in the middle of the river. Before I could dismount to 

 fire, he dashed into the water and swam to the opposite, 

 bank. I grasped my trusty little Moore and waited 

 till he won the terra firma, when with one well-directed 

 shot I dropped him on the spot. A very strange thing 

 then occurred ; the buck, in his death-pangs, slid down 

 into the river, and, continuing his struggles, swam half 

 way across the river back to the island, where he lay 

 upon a sand-bank. I then divested myself of my leath- 

 ers, spurs, and veldt-schoens, and was wading in to 

 (etch him, when the river carried him off, and, fearing 

 the horrible crocodiles, I did not attempt to follow. It 

 was now late, and I rode for my wagon-spoor, which I 

 failed to find until I had returned to where we had that 

 morning breakfasted. I had been following the turns 

 of the river, and the wagons had taken a short imt 



