The reeds rustled just before him, and then there came a sound, regular and strange--a thump and a swish, then a thump and a swish.

Creeping forward, he put a match to the heap, then went back; and as the red flame crackled through the hard shining stems, he saw a dark form crouching beyond, the green eyes blinking in the reflection, and the tufted tail nervously jerking from side to side.

It was that made the strange noise.

As the flame grew, the leopard sprang up and turned away, stopping for a long stare over its shoulder.
Light fragments from the burning pile floated high up like fire- flies, and far over the white sea of leaves shone the reflection.
Others saw it from the far outer edge, and through the night came the report of a gun, and then faintly the echo of a "coo-ee." He shouted back hoarsely, and though he knew his friends could not possibly force the way to him through that barrier, impenetrable except by the devious game-tracks, he was greatly cheered.
His mind was taken off his loneliness for a time, and he suddenly found that he was fearfully hungry.

So with his handy knife he stripped the skin from a hind leg of the antelope, cut off a fine steak, and scraping out a layer of glowing embers, placed the meat on.