battling with the impalpable smoke of my gun, which fortunately
hung so thick on the ground at the height of his
head that he could not see me, though I was so close that
I might, had Ibeen possessed of a hatchet, have chopped
off his head. This was a predicament which looked very
ugly, for my boys had both bolted, taking with them my
guns; but suddenly the beast, evidently regarding the
smoke as a phantom which could not be mastered, turned
round in a bustle, to my intense relief, and galloped off at
full speed, as if scared by some terrible apparition.
0 what would I not then have given for a gun, the
chance was such a good one ! Still, angry though I was,
I could not help laughing as the dastardly boys came into
the clearance full of their mimicry, and joked over the
scene they had witnessed in security, whilst my life was
in jeopardy because they were too frightened to give me
my gun. But now came the worst part of the day; for,
though rain was falling, I had not the heart to relinquish
my game. Tracking on through the bush, I thought
every minute I should come up with the brute; but his
wounds ceased to bleed, and in the confusion of the
numerous tracks which scored all the forest we lost our
own.M
uch disappointed at this, I now proposed to make for
the track we came by in the morning, and follow it down
into camp; but this luxury was not destined to be our
lot that night, for the rain had obliterated all our footprints
of the morning, and we passed the track, mistaking
it for the run of wild beasts. It struck me we had done
so; but say what I would, the boys thought they knew
better; and the consequence was that, after wandering for
hours no one knew where"—for there was no sun to guide
us—I pulled up, and swore I would wait for the stars,
else it might be our fate to be lost in the wilderness,
which I did not much relish. We were all at this time
“ hungry as hunters,” and beginning to feel very miserable