ies across the path.
Here we have a very tough customer. If the branch is too low to creep
under, we must move cautiously over it, stepping carefully between the
small branches, and keeping our balance steadily on each leg in
succession--the slightest blunder here would be serious. Another branch
merely bent across the path, and a few feet from the ground, is slowly
raised with one hand, while you pass under it; the next man behind
receives it, passes, and, if the last of the party, allows it to regain
its original position. As this latter proceeding cannot be done without
a slight rustling of leaves, it is better to stand for two or three
minutes to allow any suspicion that may have been raised to be forgotten
by the animals near. We now take a peep round, and get a better view by
stooping low down, the underwood and branches not being so thickly
leaved close to the ground. Ah! something moved in that deep shadow;
now for the Kaffir's eyes; a signal with the finger, and Inyovu is on
his knees, head low, and looking at the suspicious object, which is
about fifty yards distant, partly hidden by the intervening stumps, and
indistinct in the gloom of the bush. Inyovu, more by the movement of
his lips and the expression of his countenance than by words, indicates
it as _imponze_ (buck). The gun, which for bush-work I always loaded
with ball, as more rapid in its killing powers, is now brought to full
cock, but not simply in the usual manner, for the click would be
instantly responded to by the darting off of the victim. The cock must
be held tight with the thumb while the trigger is pulled back; the cock
then raised to the full, and trigger released: this is all done
silently. The piece is now slowly raised, and the best place chosen
between the branches for the path of the bullet, as a little twig will
turn a ball. During this examination and preparation the buck is
silently stealing away, lifting his legs high and slowly; a nice open
space is seen clear of brambles, and the previous silence is broken,
first by the report of the gun, and, secondly, by a "bah!" from the
moving animal: a rush is made to the spot, and a red bush-buck, about
the size of a roe-deer, but stouter, becomes the reward of the previous
precautions. The usual operations are performed on him, and a slight
rest is taken. For two people to sit down in the bush would be a very
simple thing, and liable to no mistake, we should imagine; but it is