80 
THE NEW AFRICA 
up again, digging and stabbing at his assailants in a whirl of 
man and buck, so utterly ludicrous to us onlookers that we, 
instead of responding to his shouts for assistance, knowing, of 
course, that he was in no serious danger, stood and shrieked 
out our merriment into the forest, stamping with glee, until in 
the natural course of events the buck were too weak to rise any 
more. Hammar, who was very much excited with the encounter, 
and also out of breath, justly took a contrary view to ours of 
the case, and we had to spend a great deal of genuine contri¬ 
tion and diplomacy in order to re-establish the usual harmony 
in camp. But, as old Jan privately confided to me, I couldn’t 
have helped laughing, even if it had been my old mother in 
Hammar’s shoes. 
Just before camping one evening, a troop of water buck 
appeared in front of us, and, firing at the smallest doe, as being 
the most tender for the pot, I was surprised to see the poor 
beast step out and walk towards me. She came up to within 
seven yards, and lay down staring at me, with her gentle eyes 
wide open in wonder, while the blood streamed from her nose, 
for she was shot through the lungs, until Hammar, who came 
up, begged me to put the poor beast out of its misery. His 
voice startled the creature, or broke the spell under which she 
was evidently labouring, for with a few bounds she gained the 
edge of the bush, where she fell with a crash. Such incidents 
make it difficult for sportsmen to shoot for shooting’s sake. 
It is not my intention to give the record of slaughter on this 
trip, or to enumerate each hunting incident as it transpired, and 
I will content myself by occasionally relating the most unique 
hunting events which occurred. Otherwise I fear that the 
reader, as well as myself, would feel a weariness of detail in this 
period of our experiences. 
Hammar, to whom I owe a lifelong debt for his sturdy 
support throughout the subsequent difficulties and dangers on 
this journey, here displayed his usual thoroughness by the 
diligence with which he fulfilled the onerous duties of his 
department, namely, the accurate mapping out of the route, 
