XIV GEMSBUCKS AND ZEBRAS 265 



Matabele and several Bushmen, rode out in search 

 of the herd of gemsbucks I had seen the pre- 

 vious day whilst chasing the bull. We took up 

 their yesterday's tracks, and after following them 

 for several hours, found that they had joined 

 company with a herd of BurchelFs zebras, with 

 which animals they were still feeding when we at 

 last overtook them. There were about fifteen 

 gemsbucks (the largest number of these animals 

 I have ever seen together) and as many zebras. 

 The country where we found them being perfectly 

 open, they, of course, saw us when we were still a 

 long way off, and at once went off, with a long start, 

 the gemsbucks leading and the zebras running 

 close behind them. 



The horse I was riding — the same with which I 

 had chased the gemsbuck bull on the previous day 

 — was one of the finest shooting horses I ever 

 owned, and though no longer young, was both fast 

 and possessed of great staying power. He was, 

 too, a wonderfully sure-footed animal, and just now 

 in splendid hard condition. Had the zebras been 

 alone, they would have gone off at a leisurely pace, 

 but being led by the gemsbucks, they kept close on 

 their heels. These latter animals, according to my 

 experience, when disturbed never run off in a 

 leisurely way, nor even, if not pressed, do they keep 

 stopping and looking back at their pursuer like 

 almost all other antelopes, but go off at once at such 

 a tearing pace, that although it is not the utmost 

 speed they are capable of when hard pressed, is yet 

 sufficiently fast to make it impossible to get near 

 them at all without hard galloping. Owing to the 

 long start they had got, I daresay I had galloped 

 two, perhaps three, miles before my horse had 

 carried me close up behind the zebras. These 

 latter, running well together some fifty yards behind 

 the gemsbucks, raised a tremendous dust, and, as in 



