As one of our party had only small shot, and the other nothing but a stick, I insisted upon their remaining close at my side, knowing that a full-grown baboon, when infuriated, is as dangerous a foe as a leopard.
We were more than half-way up the hill before there was a chance at all; and when a baboon did appear at last above us, it managed so adroitly to be always either beneath a bush or behind a stone, that to take a fair aim was simply impossible.
When the brute had gained the top of the hill, of course it was hidden from view; but we persevered, in hopes that on reaching the summit, if we did not catch sight of the same one again, we might see another. So far we were not disappointed. We had hardly finished our ascent when we spied a full-grown female, scarcely fifty yards in front of us. By ill-luck, however, I failed to secure a shot at it; first, one of the black farm-servants came between me and my mark just at the very instant when I was about to fire; and when I next managed to get within fair range, one of my friends raised such a prodigious shout that the creature bounded far away; so that I had to go on in a prolonged pursuit, only at last to find that the chase must be abandoned as fruitless.
It may well be supposed that it was not quite in the best humour that we retraced our steps. It was not only that the last chance for that day had been missed, but it was most unlikely that so favourable an opportunity for getting near that herd would occur again.
On our return the Korannas informed us that what I had spoken of only in jest, had really transpired in fact; the baboons, at the very hour when we were taking our refreshment, had been attracted by the bleating of some lambs, and began to make an attack upon the sheep-kraal. Detected in time, they were driven off; and in order to prevent them from repeating their visit, a pursuit had been set on foot.
The men told us, however, that so far from being effectually scared away, the baboons would be sure to come and drink at the other pond. Upon hearing this all our disappointment and fatigue were forgotten at once, and we were off without delay to the spot that was pointed out.
BABOON-HUNT.
The pond, full of rain-water, lay in the valley; on the left, not a quarter of a mile off, were the hills we had just quitted; and opposite, on the right, was another ridge of hills, perhaps a mile away. Three sides of the pond were embanked, the embankment facing the house being of stone; the soil was sandy; the muddy water in one place was running in a little creek; some shrubs were growing between the clefts of the stones, and behind one of these, high enough to conceal our heads, we took up our position.
Only a few minutes had elapsed when one of the farm-boys drew our attention to what seemed little more than a couple of dark specks on the slope of the hills to the right; but we could soon see that they were moving, and when they came within half a mile of us, we could distinctly recognize them as a herd of baboons. The boy said he was quite sure that they were on their way to the water; but to our surprise they did not make any further advance. A quarter of an hour elapsed; half an hour; still no symptom of their approach. All at once, as if they had started from the earth by magic, at the open end of the pond, not sixty yards from our place of ambush, stood two huge males. When or how they had got there no one could tell; probably they had come by a circuitous way through the valley, or it might be that they had crept straight down through the grass; they had certainly eluded our observation.