that were hard and
sapless, and these he banked in six heaps round the base of the
mound; and when the task was done he reared a bigger pile in the
centre as a reserve.

Then the black of the night swept over the reeds quick almost as the
shadow of a cloud, and with the dark came a sad rustling, as of a
thousand whisperings. It was still and not still. Up in the sky was
the quietness of a still night, the stars watching and brooding over
the silence; but down below, in and out of the miles and miles of
avenues, stretching every way through the millions of smooth
gleaming stems, came a whispering as if creatures were moving tip-
toe, moving up nearer and nearer, treading carefully, watching and
listening. An owl brushed like a shadow overhead, and his loud
"whoo-whoo" floated away in sadness and sorrow.

He sat with his back to the reserve heap of reeds, and waited with
his rifle over his knees for the signal to fire his first pile.
There was as yet no clear meaning in those mysterious whisperings.
What he listened for was a sound that he could interpret, and it
came very soon in the grunt of a leopard, harsh and grating. The
reeds rustled just before him, and then there came a sound, regular
and strange--a thump and a swish, then a thump and a swish. Creeping
forward, he put a match to the heap, then went back; and as the red
flame crackled through the hard shining stems, he saw a dark form
crouching beyond, the green eyes blinking in the reflection, and the
tufted tail nervously jerking from side to side. It was that made
the strange noise. As the flame grew, the leopard sprang up and
turned away, stopping for a long stare over its shoulder.

Light fragments from the burning pile floated high up like fire-
flies, and far over the white sea of leaves shone the reflection.
Others saw it from the far outer edge, and through the night came
the report of a gun, and then faintly the echo of a "coo-ee." He
shouted back hoarsely, and though he knew his friends could not
possibly force the way to him through that barrier, impenetrable
except by the devious game-tracks, he was greatly cheered.

His mind was taken off his loneliness for a time, and he suddenly
found that he was fearfully hungry. So with his handy knife he
stripped the skin from a hind leg of the antelope, cut off a fine
steak, and scraping out a layer of glowing embers, placed the meat
on. With the cooking and eating of his supper the time went
cheerfu