king
out a path that seemed wider than the others, and which led in the
right way. After steady tramping, he found himself back at the very
spot where he had killed the antelope. It was a nasty shock, but, in
no way dismayed, he tried to pick up his old spoor, and after a
patient search he hit it off, and went on with a little laugh. He
hesitated when he entered another little open space, but finally
kept on in the same direction, and finding the way easier, stepped
out confidently, although the weight of the buck was beginning to
tell, combined with the closeness of the air in these long aisles.
At last the reeds thinned, and he stepped out into the open. He
slipped the legs of the buck over his head to stretch himself, and
then a little cry of disgust broke from his lips, for the place he
had come to was not the outskirts of the reeds at all, but merely an
open space, larger than any he had met before, with a little grass
mound in the centre. Mounting this, he could see a run of trees in
the distance, and in between a sea of green leaves, giving back
myriad points of light under the rays of the sun. Queer soft noises
came out of the white rows of reeds all around, and from the vast
expanse a continual murmur that was something like the moaning of
the wind in the pines.

He fired his gun off and listened. A faint far-off answer he thought
he heard; but when he fired again he could detect no sound but the
whispering murmur. He cut a couple of stout reeds, fitted one into
the other, tied his handkerchief to the top, and planted the pole on
the mound. Then he placed the buck at the foot of the pole, covered
it with an armful of reeds, took a long look around, and started off
once more. He was resolved to keep straight on, path or no path, but
after a tussle with the serried ranks of reeds, with their razor-
like leaves, he soon gave up that idea as hopeless, and took again
to the paths--going very slowly, and taking his direction at
intervals. But, try as he would, there were the kinks and twists in
the paths which turned him out of his course. The endless game-
tracks formed a worse snare than any he had been in of human
contrivance; and at places, moreover, the ground was boggy, catching
hold of his feet, and exhausting him by the heavy going. Several
times animals broke cover and crashed away unseen. At one spot in
the ooze he saw the form of a huge crocodile, and at another place
the menacing head of a python was re