THE DODGE. 



251 



woodman carrying both smashers : they grope 

 painfnlly through mangrove-thicket where para- 

 sitical oysters wound the legs with their sharp 

 edges, and where the deep mud and shaking hog 

 admit a man to the knees. After a time, reach- 

 ing a clear spot, they take up a position where the 

 bush-screened bank impends the deepest water, 

 and signal me to drive the herd. The latter, after 

 rubbing their backs against the big canoe, rise to 

 breathe ; I hoist a scarlet cloth upon a tall pole, 

 and the beasts, inquisitive as kangaroos, expose 

 themselves to gratify a siLly curiosity. My com- 

 panion has two splendid standing shots, and the 

 splashing and circling in the stream below tell the 

 accuracy of his aim. The dodge was suggested by 

 seeing antelope thus arrested in their flight, and 

 by remembering the red whMigigs with bits of 

 mirror, used in former years by the French chas- 

 seur to kill hares. 



Whilst in the pursuit of the animals that were 

 retiring to the other end of the pool, I saw a hole 

 bursting in the stream close to the bows of the 

 canoe, and a dark head of portentous dimensions 

 rose with a snort, a grunt, and a spirt. Mamba ! 

 Mamba ! shout the Baloch, and yet the old rogue 

 disdains to flinch or fly. A cove from the Colt 

 strikes him full in the front; his brain is pierced, 



