THE WILY WATERBUCK 229 pay which they receive for this work. They are fine, big, powerful men, these conscripts, goodnatured and good-looking fellows, who could have escaped their term of military service in a climate so prejudicial to them by a payment of £20.

In the morning we were charging the bank through a belt of long reeds to find a landing-place by the wood, when a confiding waterbuck was seen within a few yards, quite unscared by the ship. Meat was wanted for the men, and my companion determined to shoot it. It moved on to a place where the forest was dense, and, firing somewhat by guesswork, it fell to him at a distance of about 20 yards. Walking up to the animal, he sent back for a knife to bleed it, and for some minutes it lay apparently dead, waited until the hunter had turned his back, then rose to its feet and departed.

Such lack of straightforwardness constituted nothing short of a scandal, and a chase was the only possible course to pursue. However, the gods were in arms for the protection of the buck, and presented themselves in the form of a huge serpent, lying directly in the path. It was a vile, filthy beast, dull fleshy red in colour, and as thick as the arm. Returning with the shot-gun, it was found that the serpent had saved itself by disappearing, and incidentally rescued the waterbuck, for he had got clear away in the interval. As a rule, snakes will make off if disturbed at not too close quarters, unless their refuges be on the other side