Hillyard almost swore aloud. There was a creek, three hours' march away,
where the reed buck came down to drink in the morning. For that creek
Hillyard was now making with a little Mannlicher sporting rifle--and he
had tumbled suddenly upon buffalo! He was on the very edge of the
buffalo country, he would see no more between here and the houses of
Senga.

It was his last chance and he had nothing but a popgun! He was still
reproaching himself when a small but startling change took place. The
snuffling and lapping suddenly ceased; and with the cessation of all
sound, the night became sinister.

The shikari whispered again.

"Now they in their turn know that we are here." He enveloped the
donkey's head in a shawl that he was carrying. "Do not move," he
continued. "They are listening."

Shikari, skinner, donkey-boy, donkey and Hillyard stood together,
motionless, silent. Hillyard had come out to hunt. Down below the herd
in its dumb parliament was debating whether he should be the hunted.
There was little chance for any one of them if the debate went against
them. Hillyard might bring down one--perhaps two, if by some miraculous
chance he shot a bullet through both forelegs. But it would make no
difference to the herd. Hillyard pictured them below by the water's
edge, their heads lifted, their tails stiffened, waiting in the
darkness. Once the lone, earth-shaking roar of a lion spread from far
away, booming over the dark country. But the herd below never stirred.
It no more feared the lion than it feared the four men on the river bank