ecautionary doses of quinine. Shortly
afterwards the breeze died away altogether, and as rowing our heavy boat
against stream in the heat was out of the question, we were thankful
enough to get under the shade of a group of trees--a species of
willow--that grew by the edge of the river, and lie there and gasp till
at length the approach of sunset put a period to our miseries. Seeing
what appeared to be an open space of water straight ahead of us, we
determined to row there before settling what to do for the night. Just
as we were about to loosen the boat, however, a beautiful waterbuck,
with great horns curving forward, and a white stripe across the rump,
came down to the river to drink, without perceiving us hidden away
within fifty yards under the willows. Leo was the first to catch sight
of it, and, being an ardent sportsman, thirsting for the blood of
big game, about which he had been dreaming for months, he instantly
stiffened all over, and pointed like a setter dog. Seeing what was the
matter, I handed him his express rifle, at the same time taking my own.

"Now then," I whispered, "mind you don't miss."

"Miss!" he whispered back contemptuously; "I could not miss it if I
tried."

He lifted the rifle, and the roan-coloured buck, having drunk his fill,
raised his head and looked out across the river. He was standing right
against the sunset sky on a little eminence, or ridge of ground, which
ran across the swamp, evidently a favourite path for game, and there
was something very beautiful about him. Indeed, I do not think that if
I live to a hundred I shall ever forget that desolate and yet most
fascinating scene; it is stamped upon my memory. To the right and
left were wide stretches of lonely death-breeding swamp, unbroken and
unrelieved so far as the eye could reach, except here and there by ponds
of black and peaty water that, mirror-like, flashed up the red rays
of the setting sun. Behind us and before stretched the vista of the
sluggish river, ending in glimpses of a reed-fringed lagoon, on the
surface of which the long lights of the evening played as the faint
breeze stirred the shadows. To the west loomed the huge red ball of the
sinking sun, now vanishing down the vapoury horizon, and filling the
great heaven, high across whose arch the cranes and wildfowl streamed
in line, square, and triangle, with flashes of flying gold and the lurid
stain of blood. And then ourselves--three modern Englishmen in a
mod