ling sport, that sea-cow shooting must be. What do you say,
Fanning, when we've found our Golconda, to starting a shooting-trip bang
into the interior? Hallo! What's that giving tongue? Sounds for all
the world like a pack of foxhounds."

A shrill, long-drawn, baying chorus came floating upon the night-air,
but very distant. Then it drew nearer, then faded again, then plainer
still, then seemed to die away fainter and fainter in the distance. The
chorus, borne upon the night in fluctuating waves of sound, blended in
wild harmony with the frowning heights and untrodden desolation of this
out-of-the-world gorge.

"Wild dogs," said Renshaw, listening intently. "They're hunting
something--running it pretty closely, too, or they wouldn't be tonguing
like that. By the way, talking of wild dogs, I had an experience with
them once which was very much akin to that one of yours with the baboons
a little while ago. I was returning from a trip into the Gaza country,
with a waggon, and knocking around to shoot something, I fell in with a
clump of giraffes. They were shyer than usual, and led me a long chevy.
I only managed to wound one--not badly enough--and then it got dark.
My horse was rather done up, and I didn't quite know where I was. Then
it became obvious I shouldn't fetch the waggon again that night.

"Just as I was casting about for a good place to camp, I heard a whimper
close at hand. The veldt was sprinkled about with clumps of mimosa and
other thorns--in parts thickish--and all of a sudden the horse threw up
his ears and began to snort. I looked up. There, right in front,
squatted on their haunches in a semicircle, not a hundred yards off,
were a lot of wild dogs. Couldn't have been less than forty of them. I
just gave a shout and rushed at them. But they didn't move until I got
within twenty yards, and then they got up, cantered away the same
distance, and squatted down again. Then I lost patience, and picking
out a big one, just bowled the brute over as he sat. He stiffened out
without a yelp, but the rest didn't seem to care. So I stuck in another
cartridge, and stretched out another, and rushed at them at the same
time. They scattered then, but in no hurry. Now, I thought, I'll ride
on. But I happened to look back to see if they had dropped off. Not a
bit of it. The brutes were quietly trotting along in my wake. Again I
turned back. They just stopped, and squatted down as before.

"Now