after breakfast I took my rifle and one gun-bearer with a
double-barrelled gun to enjoy one last stroll in the forest. It was just
break of day. My first course was towards the river which flowed through
it, as I expected to find the game near the water, an hour before
sunrise being their time for drinking. I had not proceeded far before
immense herds of deer offered tempting shots; but I was out simply in
search of large antlers, and none appearing of sufficient size, I would
not fire. Buffaloes continually presented themselves: I was tired of
shooting these brutes, but I killed two who looked rather vicious; and I
amused myself with remarking the immense quantity of game, and imagining
the number of heads that I could bag had I chosen to indulge in
indiscriminate slaughter. At length I noticed a splendid buck lying on
the sandy bed of the river, beneath a large tree; his antlers were
beautiful, and I stalked him to within sixty yards and shot him. I had
not been reloaded ten minutes, and was walking quietly through the
forest, when I saw a fine antlered buck standing within thirty yards of
me in a small patch of underwood. His head was turned towards me, and
his nostrils were distended in alarm as he prepared to bound off. I had
just time to cock my rifle as he dashed off at full speed; but it was a
murderous distance, and he fell dead. His antlers matched exactly with
those I had last shot.

I turned towards the direction of the tent, and, descending to the bed
of the river, I followed the course of the stream upon the margin of dry
sand. I had proceeded about half a mile, when I noticed at about 150
paces some object moving about the trunk of a large fallen tree which
lay across the bed of the river. This stem was about five feet in
diameter, and I presently distinguished the antlers and then the head of
a large buck, as they appeared above it; he had been drinking in the
stream on the opposite side, and he now raised his head, sniffing the