Ploughboy
notices it - now Gaylass they'll hit it off presently to a
certainty, though it's as cold as charity. That elk was feeding
here early in the night; the scent is four hours old if a minute.
There they go into the jungle, and we shall lose the elk, ten to
one, as not another hound in the pack will work it up. It can't
be helped; if any three hounds will rouse him out, those are the
three."
For a couple of hours we had sat behind a rock, sheltered from
the wind, watching the immense prospect before us. The whole
pack were lying around us except the three missing hounds, of
whom we had seen nothing since they stole away upon the cold
scent.
That elk must have gone up to the top of the mountains after
feeding, and a pretty run he must be having, very likely off to
Matturatta plains; if so, good-bye to all sport for to-day, and
the best hounds will be dead tired for to-morrow.
I was just beginning to despair when I observed a fine large buck
at about half a mile distance, cantering easily toward us across
an extensive flat of table-land. This surface was a fine sward,
on the same level with the point upon which we sat, but separated
from us by two small wooded ravines, with a strip of patina
between them.
