jock’s first experience in hunting was on the crocodile river not far from the spot where afterwards we had the great fight with the old crocodile. in the summer when the heavy rains flood the country the river runs ‘bank high,’ hiding everything—reeds, rocks, islands, and stunted trees—in some places silent and oily like a huge gorged snake, in others foaming and turbulent as an angry monster. in the rainless winter when the water is low and clear the scene is not so grand, but is quiet, peaceful, and much more beautiful. there is an infinite variety in it then—the river sometimes winding along in one deep channel, but more often forking out into two or three streams in the broad bed. the loops and lacings of the divided water carve out islands and spaces of all shapes and sizes, banks of clean white sand or of firm damp mud swirled up by the floods, on which tall green reeds with yellow tasselled tops shoot up like crops of kaffir corn. looked down upon from the flood banks the silver streaks of water gleam brightly in the sun, and the graceful reeds, bowing and swaying slowly with the gentlest breeze and alternately showing their leaf-sheathed stems and crested tops, give the appearance of an ever-changing sea of green and gold. here and there a big rock, black and polished, stands boldly out, and the sea of reeds laps round it like the waters of a lake on a bright still day. when there is no breeze the rustle of the reeds is hushed, and the only constant sound is the ever-varying voice of the water, lapping, gurgling, chattering, murmuring, as it works its way along the rocky channels; sometimes near and loud, sometimes faint and distant; and sometimes, over long sandy reaches, there is no sound at all.

get up on some vantage point upon the high bank and look down there one day in the winter of the tropics as the heat and hush of noon approach, and it will seem indeed a scene of peace and beauty—a place to rest and dream, where there is neither stir nor sound. then, as you sit silently watching and thinking, where all the world is so infinitely still, you will notice that one reed down among all those countless thousands is moving. it bows slowly and gracefully a certain distance, and then with a quivering shuddering motion straightens itself still more slowly and with evident difficulty, until at last it stands upright again like the rest but still all a-quiver while they do not move a leaf. just as you are beginning to wonder what the reason is, the reed bows slowly again, and again struggles back; and so it goes on as regularly as the swing of a pendulum. then you know that, down at the roots where you cannot see it, the water is flowing silently, and that something attached to this reed is dragging in the stream and pulling it over, and swinging back to do it again each time the reed lifts it free—a perpetual seesaw.

you are glad to find the reason, because it looked a little uncanny; but the behaviour of that one reed has stopped your dreaming and made you look about more carefully. then you find that, although the reeds appear as still as the rocks, there is hardly a spot where, if you watch for a few minutes, you will not see something moving. a tiny field-mouse climbing one reed will sway it over; a river rat gnawing at the roots will make it shiver and rustle; little birds hopping from one to another will puzzle you; and a lagavaan turning in his sunbath will make half a dozen sway outwards.

all feeling that it is a home of peace, a place to rest and dream, leaves you; you are wondering what goes on down below the green and gold where you can see nothing; and when your eye catches a bigger, slower, continuous movement in another place, and for twenty yards from the bank to the stream you see the tops of the reeds silently and gently parting and closing again as something down below works its way along without the faintest sound, the place seems too quiet, too uncanny and mysterious, too silent, stealthy and treacherous for you to sit still in comfort: you must get up and do something.

there is always good shooting along the rivers in a country where water is scarce. partridges, bush-pheasants and stembuck were plentiful along the banks and among the thorns, but the reeds themselves were the home of thousands of guinea-fowl, and you could also count on duiker and rietbuck as almost a certainty there. if this were all, it would be like shooting in a well-stocked cover, but it is not only man that is on the watch for game at the drinking-places. the beasts of prey—lions, tigers, hyenas, wild dogs and jackals, and lastly pythons and crocodiles—know that the game must come to water, and they lie in wait near the tracks or the drinking-places. that is what makes the mystery and charm of the reeds; you never know what you will put up. the lions and tigers had deserted the country near the main drifts and followed the big game into more peaceful parts; but the reeds were still the favourite shelter and resting-place of the crocodiles; and there were any number of them left.

there is nothing that one comes across in hunting more horrible and loathsome than the crocodile: nothing that rouses the feeling of horror and hatred as it does: nothing that so surely and quickly gives the sensation of ‘creeps in the back’ as the noiseless apparition of one in the water just where you least expected anything, or the discovery of one silently and intently watching you with its head resting flat on a sand spit—the thing you had seen half a dozen times before and mistaken for a small rock. many things are hunted in the bushveld; but only the crocodile is hated. there is always the feeling of horror that this hideous, cowardly, cruel thing—the enemy of man and beast alike—with its look of a cunning smile in the greeny glassy eyes and great wide mouth, will mercilessly drag you down—down—down to the bottom of some deep still pool, and hold you there till you drown. utterly helpless yourself to escape or fight, you cannot even call, and if you could, no one could help you there. it is all done in silence: a few bubbles come up where a man went down; and that is the end of it.

we all knew about the crocodiles and were prepared for them, but the sport was good, and when you are fresh at the game and get interested in a hunt it is not very easy to remember all the things you have been warned about and the precautions you were told to take. it was on the first day at the river that one of our party, who was not a very old hand at hunting, came in wet and muddy and told us how a crocodile had scared the wits out of him. he had gone out after guinea-fowl, he said, but as he had no dog to send in and flush them, the birds simply played with him: they would not rise but kept running in the reeds a little way in front of him, just out of sight. he could hear them quite distinctly, and thinking to steal a march on them took off his boots and got on to the rocks. stepping bare-footed from rock to rock where the reeds were thin, he made no noise at all and got so close up that he could hear the little whispered chink-chink-chink that they give when near danger. the only chance of getting a shot at them was to mount one of the big rocks from which he could see down into the reeds; and he worked his way along a mud-bank towards one. a couple more steps from the mud-bank on to a low black rock would take him to the big one. without taking his eyes off the reeds where the guinea-fowl were he stepped cautiously on to the low black rock, and in an instant was swept off his feet, tossed and tumbled over and over, into the mud and reeds, and there was a noise of furious rushing and crashing as if a troop of elephants were stampeding through the reeds. he had stepped on the back of a sleeping crocodile; no doubt it was every bit as frightened as he was. there was much laughter over this and the breathless earnestness with which he told the story; but there was also a good deal of chaff, for it seems to be generally accepted that you are not bound to believe all hunting stories; and jim and his circus crocodile became the joke of the camp.

we were spending a couple of days on the river bank to make the most of the good water and grazing, and all through the day some one or other would be out pottering about among the reeds, gun in hand, to keep the pot full and have some fun, and although we laughed and chaffed about jim’s experience, i fancy we were all very much on the look-out for rocks that looked like crocs and crocs that looked like rocks.

one of the most difficult lessons that a beginner has to learn is to keep cool. the keener you are the more likely you are to get excited and the more bitterly you feel the disappointments; and once you lose your head, there is no mistake too stupid for you to make, and the result is another good chance spoilt. the great silent bush is so lonely; the strain of being on the look-out all the time is so great; the uncertainty as to what may start up—anything from a partridge to a lion—is so trying that the beginner is wound up like an alarum clock and goes off at the first touch. he is not fit to hit a haystack at twenty yards; will fire without looking or aiming at all; jerk the rifle as he fires; forget to change the sight after the last shot; forget to cock his gun or move the safety catch; forget to load; forget to fire at all: nothing is impossible—nothing too silly.

on a later trip we had with us a man who was out for the first time, and when we came upon a troop of koodoo he started yelling, war-whooping and swearing at them, chasing them on foot and waving his rifle over his head. when we asked him why he, who was nearest to them, had not fired a shot, all he could say was that he never remembered his rifle or anything else until they were gone.

these experiences had been mine, some of them many times, in spite of rocky’s example and advice; and they were always followed by a fresh stock of good resolutions.

i had started out this day with the same old determination to keep cool, but, once into the reeds, jim’s account of how he had stepped on the crocodile put all other thoughts out of my mind, and most of my attention was given to examining suspicious-looking rocks as we stole silently and quietly along.

jock was with me, as usual; i always took him out even then—not for hunting, because he was too young, but in order to train him. he was still only a puppy, about six months old, as well as i remember, and had never tackled or even followed a wounded buck, so that it was impossible to say what he would do; he had seen me shoot a couple and had wanted to worry them as they fell; but that was all. he was quite obedient and kept his place behind me; and, although he trembled with excitement when he saw or heard anything, he never rushed in or moved ahead of me without permission. the guinea-fowl tormented him that day; he could scent and hear them, and was constantly making little runs forward, half crouching and with his nose back and tail dead level and his one ear full-cocked and the other half-up.

for about half an hour we went on in this way. there was plenty of fresh duiker spoor to show us that we were in a likely place, one spoor in particular being so fresh in the mud that it seemed only a few minutes old. we were following this one very eagerly but very cautiously, and evidently jock agreed with me that the duiker must be near, for he took no more notice of the guinea-fowl; and i for my part forgot all about crocodiles and suspicious-looking rocks; there was at that moment only one thing in the world for me, and that was the duiker. we crept along noiselessly in and out of the reeds, round rocks and mudholes, across small stretches of firm mud or soft sand, so silently that nothing could have heard us, and finally we came to a very big rock, with the duiker spoor fresher than ever going close round it down stream. the rock was a long sloping one, polished smooth by the floods and very slippery to walk on. i climbed it in dead silence, peering down into the reeds and expecting every moment to see the duiker.

the slope up which we crept was long and easy, but that on the down-stream side was much steeper. i crawled up to the top on hands and knees, and raising myself slowly, looked carefully about, but no duiker could be seen; yet jock was sniffing and trembling more than ever, and it was quite clear that he thought we were very close up. seeing nothing in front or on either side, i stood right up and turned to look back the way we had come and examine the reeds on that side. in doing so a few grains of grit crunched under my foot, and instantly there was a rush in the reeds behind me; i jumped round to face it, believing that the crocodile was grabbing at me from behind, and on the polished surface of the rock my feet slipped and shot from under me, both bare elbows bumped hard on the rock, jerking the rifle out of my hands; and i was launched like a torpedo right into the mass of swaying reeds.

when you think you are tumbling on to a crocodile there is only one thing you want to do—get out as soon as possible. how long it took to reach the top of the rock again, goodness only knows! it seemed like a life-time; but the fact is i was out of those reeds and up that rock in time to see the duiker as it broke out of the reeds, raced up the bank, and disappeared into the bush with jock tearing after it as hard as ever he could go.

one call stopped him, and he came back to me looking very crestfallen and guilty, no doubt thinking that he had behaved badly and disgraced himself. but he was not to blame at all; he had known all along that the duiker was there—having had no distracting fancies about crocodiles—and when he saw it dash off and his master instantly jump in after it, he must have thought that the hunt had at last begun and that he was expected to help.

after all that row and excitement there was not much use in trying for anything more in the reeds—and indeed i had had quite enough of them for one afternoon; so we wandered along the upper banks in the hope of finding something where there were no crocodiles, and it was not long before we were interested in something else and able to forget all about the duiker.

before we had been walking many minutes, jock raised his head and ears and then lowered himself into a half crouching attitude and made a little run forward. i looked promptly in the direction he was pointing and about two hundred yards away saw a stembuck standing in the shade of a mimosa bush feeding briskly on the buffalo grass. it was so small and in such bad light that the shot was too difficult for me at that distance, and i crawled along behind bushes, ant-heaps and trees until we were close enough for anything. the ground was soft and sandy, and we could get along easily enough without making any noise; but all the time, whilst thinking how lucky it was to be on ground so soft for the hands and knees, and so easy to move on without being heard, something else was happening. with eyes fixed on the buck i did not notice that in crawling along on all-fours, the muzzle of the rifle dipped regularly into the sand, picking up a little in the barrel each time. there was not enough to burst the rifle, but the effect was surprising. following on a painfully careful aim, there was a deafening report that made my head reel and buzz; the kick of the rifle on the shoulder and cheek left me blue for days; and when my eyes were clear enough to see anything the stembuck had disappeared.

i was too disgusted to move, and sat in the sand rubbing my shoulder and thanking my stars that the rifle had not burst. there was plenty to think about, to be sure, and no hurry to do anything else, for the noise of the shot must have startled every living thing for a mile round.

it is not always easy to tell the direction from which a report comes when you are near a river or in broken country or patchy bush; and it is not an uncommon thing to find that a shot which has frightened one animal away from you has startled another and driven it towards you; and that is what happened in this case. as i sat in the shade of the thorns with the loaded rifle across my knees there was the faint sound of a buck cantering along in the sand; i looked up; and only about twenty yards from me a duiker came to a stop, half fronting me. there it stood looking back over its shoulder and listening intently, evidently thinking that the danger lay behind it. it was hardly possible to miss that; and as the duiker rolled over, i dropped my rifle and ran to make sure of it.

of course, it was dead against the rules to leave the rifle behind; but it was simply a case of excitement again: when the buck rolled over everything else was forgotten! i knew the rule perfectly well—reload at once and never part with your gun. it was one of rocky’s lessons, and only a few weeks before this, when out for an afternoon’s shooting with an old hunter, the lesson had been repeated. the old man shot a rietbuck ram, and as it had been facing us and dropped without a kick we both thought that it was shot through the brain. there was no mark on the head, however, and although we examined it carefully, we failed to find the bullet-mark or a trace of blood; so we put our rifles down to settle the question by skinning the buck. after sawing at the neck for half a minute, however, the old man found his knife too blunt to make an opening, and we both hunted about for a stone to sharpen it on, and while we were fossicking about in the grass there was a noise behind, and looking sharply round we saw the buck scramble to its feet and scamper off before we had time to move. the bullet must have touched one of its horns and stunned it. my companion was too old a hunter to get excited, and while i ran for the rifles and wanted to chase the buck on foot he stood quite still, gently rubbing the knife on the stone he had picked up. looking at me under bushy eyebrows and smiling philosophically, he said:

“that’s something for you to remember, boy. it’s my belief if you lived for ever there’d always be something to learn at this game.”

unfortunately i did not remember when it would have been useful. as i ran forward the duiker tumbled, struggled and rolled over and over, then got up and made a dash, only to dive head foremost into the sand and somersault over; but in a second it was up again and racing off, again to trip and plunge forward on to its chest with its nose outstretched sliding along the soft ground. the bullet had struck it in the shoulder, and the broken leg was tripping it and bringing it down; but, in far less time than it takes to tell it, the little fellow found out what was wrong, and scrambling once more to its feet was off on three legs at a pace that left me far behind. jock, remembering the mistake in the reeds, kept his place behind, and i in the excitement of the moment neither saw nor thought of him until the duiker, gaining at every jump, looked like vanishing for ever. then i remembered and, with a frantic wave of my hand, shouted, “after him, jock.”

he was gone before my hand was down, and faster than i had ever seen him move, leaving me ploughing through the heavy sand far behind. past the big bush i saw them again, and there the duiker did as wounded game so often do: taking advantage of cover it changed direction and turned away for some dense thorns. but that suited jock exactly; he took the short cut across to head it off and was close up in a few more strides. he caught up to it, raced up beside it, and made a jump at its throat; but the duiker darted away in a fresh direction, leaving him yards behind. again he was after it and tried the other side; but the buck was too quick, and again he missed and overshot the mark in his jump. he was in such deadly earnest he seemed to turn in the air to get back again and once more was close up—so close that i the flying heels of the buck seemed to pass each side of his ears; then he made his spring from behind, catching the duiker high up on one hind leg, and the two rolled over together, kicking and struggling in a cloud of dust. time after time the duiker got on its feet, trying to get at him with its horns or to break away again; but jock, although swung off his feet and rolled on, did not let go his grip. in grim silence he hung on while the duiker plunged, and, when it fell, tugged and worried as if to shake the life out of it.

what with the hot sun, the heavy sand, and the pace at which we had gone, i was so pumped that i finished the last hundred yards at a walk, and had plenty of time to see what was going on; but even when i got up to them the struggle was so fierce and the movements so quick that for some time it was not possible to get hold of the duiker to finish it off. at last came one particularly bad fall, when the buck rolled over on its back, and then jock let go his grip and made a dash for its throat; but again the duiker was too quick for him; with one twist it was up and round facing him on its one knee, and dug, thrust, and swept with its black spiky horns so vigorously that it was impossible to get at its neck. as jock rushed in the head ducked and the horns flashed round so swiftly that it seemed as if nothing could save him from being stabbed through and through, but his quickness and cleverness were a revelation to me. if he could not catch the duiker, it could not catch him: they were in a way too quick for each other, and they were a long way too quick for me.

time after time i tried to get in close enough to grab one of the buck’s hind legs, but it was not to be caught. while jock was at it fast and furious in front, i tried to creep up quietly behind—but it was no use: the duiker kept facing jock with horns down, and whenever i moved it swung round and kept me in front also. finally i tried a run straight in; and then it made another dash for liberty. on three legs, however, it had no chance, and in another minute jock had it again, and down they came together, rolling over and over once more. the duiker struggled hard, but he hung on, and each time it got its feet to the ground to rise he would tug sideways and roll it over again, until i got up to them, and catching the buck by the head, held it down with my knee on its neck and my bushman’s friend in hand to finish it.

there was, however, still another lesson for us both to learn that day; neither of us knew what a buck can do with its hind feet when it is down. the duiker was flat on its side; jock, thinking the fight was over, had let go; and, before i could move the supple body doubled up, and the feet whizzed viciously at me right over its head. the little pointed cloven feet are as hard and sharp as horns and will tear the flesh like claws. by good luck the kick only grazed my arm, but although the touch was the lightest it cut the skin and little beads of blood shot up marking the line like the scratch of a thorn. missing my arm the hoof struck full on the handle of the bushman’s friend and sent it flying yards out of reach. and it was not merely one kick: faster than the eye could follow them the little feet whizzed and the legs seemed to buzz round like the spokes of a wheel. holding the horns at arm’s length in order to dodge the kicks, i tried to pull the duiker towards the knife; but it was too much for me, and with a sudden twist and a wrench freed itself and was off again.

all the time jock was moving round and round panting and licking his chops, stepping in and stepping back, giving anxious little whimpers, and longing to be at it again, but not daring to join in without permission. when the duiker broke away, however, he waited for nothing, and was on to it in one spring—again from behind; and this time he let go as it fell, and jumping free of it, had it by the throat before it could rise. i ran to them again, but the picking up of the knife had delayed me and i was not in time to save jock the same lesson that the duiker had just taught me.

down on its side, with jock’s jaws locked in its throat, once more the duiker doubled up and used its feet. the first kick went over his head and scraped harmlessly along his back; but the second caught him at the point of the shoulder, and the razor-like toe ripped his side right to the hip. then the dog showed his pluck and cleverness. his side was cut open as if it had been slashed by a knife, but he never flinched or loosened his grip for a second; he seemed to go at it more furiously than ever, but more cleverly and warily. he swung his body round clear of the whizzing feet, watching them with his little beady eyes fixed sideways and the gleaming whites showing in the corners; he tugged away incessantly and vigorously, keeping the buck’s neck stretched out and pulling it round in a circle backwards so that it could not possibly double its body up enough to kick him again; and before i could catch the feet to help him, the kicks grew weaker; the buck slackened out, and jock had won.

the sun was hot, the sand was deep, and the rifle was hard to find; it was a long way back to the waggons, and the duiker made a heavy load; but the end of that first chase seemed so good that nothing else mattered. the only thing i did mind was the open cut on jock’s side; but he minded nothing: his tail was going like a telegraph needle; he was panting with his mouth open from ear to ear, and his red tongue hanging out and making great slapping licks at his chops from time to time; he was not still for a second, but kept walking in and stepping back in a circle round the duiker, and looking up at me and then down at it, as if he was not at all sure that there might not be some fresh game on, and was consulting me as to whether it would not be a good thing to have another go in and make it all safe.

he was just as happy as a dog could be, and perhaps he was proud of the wound that left a straight line from his shoulder to his hip and showed up like a cord under the golden brindle as long as he lived—a memento of his first real hunt.