VII SPEED OF WILD DOGS 123 



any great fear of man, but retreat very leisurely, 

 constantly halting and looking back curiously before 

 finally trotting off. 



All African antelopes probably live in deadly 

 fear of wild dogs, for on the occasion when, with 

 two companions, I saw a single wild dog overtake 

 a sable antelope bull, the latter halted and looked 

 round when its pursuer was about fifty yards behind 

 it, and then, instead of showing fight, as I should 

 have expected it to do, threw out its limbs con- 

 vulsively and ran at its utmost speed ; but the wild 

 dog overhauled it with apparent ease, and twice 

 jumped up and snapped at its flank, each time, I 

 think, making good its bite. Now this wild dog 

 must have been running very much faster than 

 any South African hunting horse could do, for 

 although it is easy enough to gallop up to sable and 

 roan antelope cows in August and September, when 

 these animals are heavy with calf, I have never 

 been able to run into a bull of either of these species, 

 though I have often attempted to do so, with very 

 good horses, on the open downs of Mashunaland. 

 Wild dogs, too, can run down koodoo cows and 

 impala antelopes, as well as hartebeests and tsessebes, 

 none of which animals can be overtaken on horse- 

 back, and I believe that the general concensus of 

 opinion amongst African hunters would be that no 

 horse could overtake a wild dog. 



I will, however, relate an experience which shows 

 that this is not always the case, and which will 

 probably be read with great surprise, if not with 

 incredulity. Early one morning in November 1885, 

 I was travelling near the source of the Sebakwe 

 river, in Mashunaland, in company with the late 

 Mr. H. C. Collison, Mr. James Dawson, and 

 Cornells van Rooyen, a well-known Boer hunter. 

 We were all riding together in very open country, 

 just in front of our four bullock waggons, when we 



