These leaders are
generally extremely cunning, one old stager with whom I was intimately
acquainted having baffled all attempts to effect its capture for more
than ten months. I got him at last by a stratagem. He had a knack of
always keeping near a flock of sheep, and on the approach of the dogs
dodged among them.
By this means he had always succeeded in effecting his escape, and
more than that, this noble savage had actually drowned several of our
best dogs, for, if at any time a dog came upon him at a distance from
the sheep flocks, he would make for a neighboring swamp, on nearing
which he has been known to turn round upon the pursuing dog, seize
him, and carry him for some distance right into the swamp, and then
thrust the dog's head under water, holding him there till he was
drowned. It was amusing to see how some of our old knowing warrior
dogs gave him best when they noticed that he was approaching a flock
of sheep, well remembering, from former experience, that it was of no
use trying to get him on that occasion, and that when near the water
the attempt at his capture was both dangerous and impracticable.
If you take a new and inexperienced dog into your hunt after an old
man, he invariably gets his throat ripped up, or is otherwise
maltreated until well used to the sport. After a dog has had one
season's experience he becomes a warrior, and it is a wonderfully
clever kangaroo that can scratch him after he has attained that
position.
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