XII TSESSEBE ANTELOPE FAWNS 245 



— a state of things to be remedied as soon as 

 possible. 



The morning of the day of which I am speaking 

 broke dull and rainy, and during the forenoon heavy 

 showers kept continually falling. About two o'clock, 

 however, the rain cleared off, and, although the sky 

 still remained cloudy and overcast, I thought that 1 

 might venture out for an hour or two's ride without 

 fear of a wetting ; so, calling for my horse — poor 

 Bottle, whose untimely fate I will recount later on 

 — I at once saddled up, and, taking a few boys with 

 me, rode along the waggon-road which here follows 

 the course of the river. We had not proceeded 

 more than a mile before cutting the spoor of some 

 five or six koodoo cows that seemed to have only 

 just passed. The spoor being so fresh and, as the 

 ground was soft and wet with the recent rain, very 

 easy to follow, I took it, and in a short time sighted 

 the koodoos, of which, after a short chase, I shot 

 one, and, leaving the Kafirs to cut up the meat and 

 carry it to the waggons, rode on by myself, not 

 caring to turn back after having been out so short a 

 time. I had ridden at a walk through the bush for 

 about an hour, when I sighted a small herd of tsessebe 

 antelope feeding quietly down an opening in the 

 forest. With them were two young fawns, which, 

 from their diminutive size, I judged to be but a 

 few days old. Being anxious to catch a few young 

 antelopes, and having several cows in milk at the 

 waggons, I thought that this would be a good oppor- 

 tunity, and anticipating but little difficulty in running 

 down such tender-looking creatures, at once rode out 

 into the open and gave chase. Never was erring 

 mortal more deceived. The two little tsessebes, 

 young though they were, ran every bit as fast as 



