here and there through the thick woody
growth. We could see nothing. Twice the rush started in our direction,
but stopped as suddenly as it had begun, to be succeeded by absolute
stillness when everything, ourselves included, held its breath to
listen. Finally, the first panic over, the herd started definitely away
downstream. We ran as fast as we could out of the jungle to a commanding
position on the hill. Thence we could determine the course of the herd.
It continued on downstream as far as we could follow the sounds in the
convolutions of the hills. Realizing that it would improbably recover
enough from its alarmed condition to resume its regular habits that day,
we returned to camp.

Next morning Memba Sasa and I were afield before daylight. We took no
other men. In hunting I am a strong disbeliever in the common habit of
trailing along a small army. It is simple enough, in case the kill
is made, to send back for help. No matter how skilful your men are at
stalking, the chances of alarming the game are greatly increased
by numbers; while the possibilities of misunderstanding the plan of
campaign, and so getting into the wrong place at the wrong time, are
infinite. Alone, or with one gunbearer, a man can slip in and out a herd
of formidable animals with the least chances of danger. Merely going out
after camp meat is of course a different matter.

We did not follow in the direction taken by the herd the night before,
but struck off toward the opposite side of the valley. For two hours we
searched the wooded country at the base of the cliff mountains, working
slowly around the circle, examining every inlet, ravine and gully.
Plenty of other sorts of game we saw, including elephant tracks not
a half hour old; but no buffalo. About eight o'clock, however, while
looking through my glasses, I caught sight of some tiny chunky black
dots crawling along below the mountains diagonally across the valley,
and somewhat over three miles away. We started in that direction as fast
as we could walk. At the end of an hour we surmounted the last swell,
and stood at the edge of a steep drop. Immediately below us flowed a
good-sized stream through a high jungle over the tops of which we looked
to a triangular gentle slope overgrown with scattered bushes and high
grass. Beyond this again ran another jungle, angling up hill from
the first, to end in a forest of trees about thirty or forty acres in
extent. This jungle and these trees wer