Jock Of The Bushveld byu Sir Percy Fitzpatrick ( Chapter 10 )( Page 1 ) Jocks Night Out

Jock was lost twice: that is to say, he was lost to me, and, as I thought, for ever.  It came about both times through his following up wounded animals and leaving me behind, and happened in the days when our hunting was all done on foot; when I could afford a horse and could keep pace with him that difficulty did not trouble us.  The experience with the impala had made me very careful not to let him go unless I felt sure that the game was hard hit and that he would be able to pull it down or bay it.  But it is not always easy to judge that.  A broken leg shows at once; but a body shot is very difficult to place, and animals shot through the lungs, and even through the lower part of the heart, often go away at a cracking pace and are out of sight in no time, perhaps to keep it up for miles, perhaps to drop dead within a few minutes. After that day with the impala we had many good days together and many hard ones: we had our disappointments, but we had our triumphs; and we were both getting to know our way about by degrees.  Buck of many kinds had fallen to us; but so far as I was concerned there was one disappointment that was not to be forgotten.  The picture of that koodoo bull as he appeared for the last time looking over the ant-heap the day we were lost was always before me.  I could not hear the name or see the spoor of koodoo without a pang of regret and the thought that never again would such a chance occur.  Koodoo, like other kinds of game, were not to be found everywhere; they favoured some localities more than others, and when we passed through their known haunts chances of smaller game were often neglected in the hope of coming across the koodoo. I could not give up whole days to hunting--for we had to keep moving along with the waggons all the time--or it would have been easy enough in many parts to locate the koodoo and make sure of getting a good bag. As it was, on three or four occasions we did come across them, and once I got a running shot, but missed.  This was not needed to keep my interest in them alive, but it made me keener than ever.  Day by day I went out always hoping to get my chance, and when at last the chance did come it was quite in accordance with the experience of many others that it was not in the least expected. The great charm of Bushveld hunting is its variety: you never know what will turn up next--the only certainty being that it will not be what you are expecting. The herd boy came noon to say that there buck feeding among the oxen only a couple of hundred yards away.  He had been quite close to it, he said, and it was very tame.  Game, so readily alarmed by the sight of white men, will often take no notice of natives, allowing them to approach to very close quarters.  They are also easily stalked under cover of cattle or horses, and much more readily approached on horseback than on foot.  The presence of other animals seems to give them confidence or to excite mild curiosity without alarm, and thus distract attention from the man.  In this case the bonny little red-brown fellow was not a bit scared; he maintained his presence of mind admirably; from time to time he turned his head our way and, with his large but shapely and most sensitive ears thrown forward examined us frankly while he moved slightly one way or another so as to keep under cover of the oxen and busily continue his browsing. In and out among some seventy head of cattle we played hide-and-seek for quite a while--I not daring to fire for fear of hitting one of the bullocks--until at last he found himself manoeuvred out of the troop; and then without giving me a chance he was off into the bush in a few frisky skips.  I followed quietly, knowing that as he was on the feed and not scared he would not go far. Moving along silently under good cover I reached a thick scrubby bush and peered over the top of it to search the grass under the surrounding thorn-trees for the little red-brown form.  I was looking about low down in the russety grass--for he was only about twice the size of Jock, and not easy to spot--when a movement on a higher level caught my eye.  It was just the flip of a fly-tickled ear; but it was a movement where all else was still, and instantly the form of a koodoo cow appeared before me as a picture is thrown on a screen by a agic- antern.  There it stood within fifty yards, the soft grey-and-white looking still softer in the shadow of the thorns, but as clear to me--and as still--as a figure carved in stone.  The stem of a mimosa hid the shoulders, but all the rest was plainly visible as it stood there utterly unconscious of danger.  The tree made a dead shot almost impossible, but the risk of trying for another position was too great, and I fired.  The thud of the bullet and the tremendous bound of the koodoo straight up in the air told that the shot had gone home; but these things were for a time forgotten in the surprise that followed.  At the sound of the shot twenty other koodoo jumped into life and sight before me.  The one I had seen and shot was but one of a herd all dozing peacefully in the shade, and strangest of all, it was the one that was farthest from me.  To the right and left of this one, at distances from fifteen to thirty yards from me, the magnificent creatures had been standing, and I had not seen them; it was the flicker of this one's ear alone that had caught my eye. My bewilderment was complete when I saw the big bull of the herd start off twenty yards on my right front pass away like a streak in a few sweep-strides.  It was a matter of seconds and they were all out of sight--all except the wounded one, which had turned off from the others. For all the flurry and confusion I had not lost sight of her, and noting her tucked-up appearance and shortened strides set Jock on her trail, believing that she would be down in a few minutes.