xir A MARAUDING EXPEDITION 243 



forward her long neck so as to pass beneath stouter 

 ones that sometimes almost grazed her shoulder, was 

 a most curious sight, though one to which I had 

 Httle time to attend, as I had all my work cut out 

 to find a path for myself At last we reached an 

 opening in the forest, which gave me a chance of 

 which I was not slow to take advantage. Springing 

 off about fifty yards behind her, and just as she was 

 gaining the bush on the farther side of the opening, 

 I gave her a shot high up in the hip, which, entering 

 obliquely, must have penetrated to her heart, for 

 after receiving the wound she ran barely 100 yards, 

 and then, standing still for a few moments, fell down 

 backwards, stone dead. 



As soon as some of the Kafirs came up, I left 

 them with the carcase and hastened to rejoin my 

 friends, whom I found with the rest of the boys 

 cutting up a very fat cow. After taking all the inside 

 fat and the best parts of the meat for ourselves, we 

 rode home to the waggons, leaving the remainder for 

 the Bushmen, one of whom at once started off to 

 fetch all his people. Early the following morning, 

 whilst sitting at the waggons, we were surprised to 

 see a long line of Kafirs approaching from the other 

 side of the river. Their large ox-hide shields and 

 short stabbing assegais at once announced them to be 

 Amandebele on some marauding expedition. When 

 within 100 yards of our camp, they halted, and a 

 few of the headmen came up to the waggons, and, 

 after first telling us a lot of ridiculous lies, at length 

 admitted that they had been sent out by their chief, 

 Lobengula, to murder any strange Bushmen or Kafirs 

 whom they might find hunting in his veldt. Of 

 course we said nothing about our friends the Masaras, 

 for whom we had killed the giraffes, and who, I 



