le, but was
evidently uneasy, for it kept lifting its head and listening. Then,
having hurriedly completed its drink, the jackal made for dark cover as
last as its legs could carry it.

"Wonder if it could have winded us," whispered Ben Halse. "Yet we are
on the right side for wind, too."

"I'm to have first shot, remember," returned Verna. Her father nodded.

A large owl floated across the open, hooting loudly and dismally. There
was a hot stuffiness in the still, yellow, moonlit air, which was
depressing. Then two hyenas came out to drink at the pool. They, at
any rate, were under no misgivings, for, having drunk, they sat on their
haunches and bayed the moon long and hideously. This performance
concluded they began chasing each other, to the accompaniment of much
snarling, till they, too, disappeared within the depths of the farther
forest.

Now came a period of tense waiting, during which nothing stirred.
Conversation, even in the faintest of whispers, was of course out of the
question. Then a sound, unmistakable to these, bred among the sounds of
the wilderness, was borne to their ears, the tramp of approaching hoofs.

"More than one," whispered Ben Halse.

He was right. Advancing from the upper end of the open space were three
large animals. Nearer--and lo! standing forth in the moonlight the
splendid koodoo bull paced slowly down to the water. He was leading the
way--half as large again as the two cows. A thrill of irrepressible
eagerness ran through the watchers, the younger of them especially.

At the edge of the water the noble animal paused a moment before
lowering his head to drink. His immense spiral horns reached far over
his broad back, and the white stripes upon his dark hide were visible in
the clear moonlight. Then Verna's rifle spoke.

The effect, crashing through the stillness of the night, was almost
appalling. The echoes roared through the silent forest from point to
point, and the rush and thunder of flying hoofs seemed to shake the
ground as the two cows sped for cover at lightning speed. But the
bull--the splendid "record" bull--he made one mighty, powerful plunge
into the air, then dropped over onto his side, and after one harsh
half-bellow, half-groan, lay still.

"Well done, little girl, well done!" cried Ben Halse enthusiastically.
"I never saw a cleaner shot. He's got it bang through the heart, by the
way he fell."

"That's where I aimed, dear," she answered, fl