"That ought to be very easy," said one of the youths.
"Not as easy as you might suppose," was the reply, "nor is it without danger. In the first place very few of the animals visit the springs in the daytime, their drinking being done at night. Furthermore, they choose the hours when there is no moon, and thus reduce the chance of being seen. In the moonless part of a month they come at any hour between darkness and daylight, but usually about midnight; on the nights when the moon shines they select the hours when it is below the horizon. Thus if the moon rises early they wait until it has set, and if it rises late they come to drink before it is above the horizon. One hunter says that if it had not been for this habit there is many a lion, rhinoceros, or elephant now roaming the forests of South Africa that would have fallen before his rifle. He says he has frequently heard a lion lapping the water within a dozen paces of him when the night was so dark that he could not get a sight of the brute."
"Do all the wild animals of Africa observe this rule?"
"None of them do so absolutely, and some are more observant of it than others. But all seem to know that there is danger near their drinking-places, and they conduct themselves accordingly.
NIGHT HUNTING. ELEPHANTS COMING TO DRINK.
"A great deal depends upon the selection of the spot for concealment, and in making his selection the hunter has many things to think of. He must carefully observe the direction of the wind and make sure that it blows towards him from the places whence the animals approach the drinking-spot. Then, if possible, he must so station himself that elephants, giraffes, and other large animals will be outlined against the sky as they come within his range. He digs a pit three or four feet deep and surrounds it with brushwood so that the change of the ground is not likely to be noticed. Sometimes there is a convenient ant-hill close to the drinking-place, and if so this forms an excellent shooting-box, as the animals are familiar with its appearance and therefore are not likely to suspect that it conceals anything dangerous.