384 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



him back again to the water, but do what 1 might 

 he would not swerve from his course, so I jumped 

 off and gave him a shot through the heart, as he 

 trotted past me. That day several of our Kafirs 

 having lagged behind, missed our spoor, our blanket- 

 carriers amongst them, and as they did not come up 

 by nightfall, we had to sleep upon the bare ground, 

 which, however, as it was fine, did not inconvenience 

 us much. 



On the 2 1 St we rode back to our waggons at 

 Umfule to see if our friends had returned. They 

 had not arrived, but we heard from a boy they had 

 sent on, that they would be in camp on the following 

 day. We this day witnessed a very pretty sight, 

 as we were riding across a wide, open down between 

 the Zweswe and Umfule rivers. We had a short 

 time previously noticed a solitary old sable antelope 

 bull feeding on the edge of a small strip of bush 

 that intersected the plain. Suddenly this antelope, 

 which was 600 or 700 yards distant, came running 

 out into the flat straight towards us, on perceiving 

 which we reined in our horses, and looked 

 around for the cause of its alarm. This was soon 

 apparent, for before long we saw that an animal 

 was running on its tracks, and though still distant, 

 overhauling it fast, for the sable antelope not 

 being pressed was not yet doing its best, so that 

 when it was about 200 yards from us, its 

 pursuer, which we now saw was a wild dog, was not 

 more than fifty yards behind it. The noble-looking 

 antelope must just then have seen us, for it halted, 

 looked towards us, and then turning its head, glanced 

 at its insignificant pursuer. That glance, however, 

 at the open-mouthed dog thirsting for its life-blood 

 must have called up unpleasant reminiscences, for 



