was probably a hyaena
or wild dog--both timid of mankind in the open, but anything is
formidable when cornered. The growls grew increasingly loud and
menacing--they seemed to be drawing nearer too--and every moment the
helpless man expected to feel the snapping fangs tearing at his face and
head. Again he made a frantic effort, but utterly without avail. The
suffocating atmosphere, together with the rush of the blood to the head
owing to his position, was fast causing him to lose consciousness. He
was in a place of darkness, being tormented by some raging demon.
Surely this was death!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That's better. Buck up. I thought you were a `goner.'" And Harley
Greenoak's voice had a ring of concern, as he bent over his charge.

"So did I," answered Dick, unsteadily, opening his eyes to the blessed
air and light. "How did you get me out?"

"Man, I gripped you by the ankles, and just lugged. It was touch and go
then, I can tell you."

"But how did you know where to find me?"

"When I hear a fellow like you get up when he ought to be going to bed--
when I see him slope into the bush with a gun, after the yarn we've just
heard to-night, it stands to reason he wants looking after. Dick, your
dad spoke true when he told me you were fond of getting into holes."

"Well, if I hadn't got into that hole I should have been still more
done," laughed Dick, at his own joke. And then he told the other about
the buffalo.

"If yes," said Greenoak, musingly. "You've got a hundred pounds to
spare, I take it?"

"A hundred--" Then Dick broke off as a new light struck him. "Why, man,
you don't mean to say I've turned over the bull?"

"Dead as a door-nail--and with one Martini bullet, too. He's lying just
yonder. There's a hundred-pound fine, you know."

A ringing hurrah broke the calm stillness of the night.

"Then it's worth it," cried Dick. "By the way, there's something in
that hole--a wolf or a wild dog."

"Oh," and the other cocked his rifle.

"No," said Dick, with a hand on his arm. "We'll let it off--as it let
me off."

"We'll just have to finish the night here," said Greenoak; "that is if
you want that head to stick up in your ancestral halls, and it's jolly
well worth it. Otherwise the jackals and wild dogs'll mangle it out of
all recognition before morning."

Dick readily agreed, and the two, collecting some dry wood, soon had a