EARLY DAYS 7 
looked like specks but were clearly discernible. In the stillness of 
the night we could hear the evening train leave Potgietersrust, 
which was twenty miles away in a direct line, with a range of hills 
between. It is, too, the night sounds that linger in one’s memory— 
the distant howl of the Black-backed Jackal and the air filled with 
the music of frogs and crickets. 
The daily train to Pretoria passed our nearest siding at 4 A.M., so 
that if one wished to catch it one had to make the journey before 
dark because of the rocky path. On the only occasion that I made 
this journey I rode the thirteen miles to the siding on horseback 
and then dozed by the track waiting for the train. My boy re- 
turned with the horses. The hard ground and the mosquitoes kept 
me awake, so there was time enough to have all the weird noises 
of the night impressed upon me. To stop the train, one had to 
light a newspaper and wave it wildly on the track, which caused 
some anxious moments, for the siding was exposed to the strong 
winds of the Springbok flats and failure to get the paper alight 
at the right moment meant waiting twenty-four hours for another 
train. 
Being out all day on some part or other of the farm brought me 
in constant contact with wild life. Antelopes were not numerous 
but occasional duiker or steinbock could nearly always be put up 
if one got off the beaten track. Guinea-fowl and francolins were 
plentiful and were cleverly snared by the natives. Every boy car- 
ried a knobkerry and if anything like a hare or francolin got up 
at close range the knobkerry was thrown with surprising accu- 
racy. Once when working in the fields we put up a hare, and all 
it had to do to escape was to run straight. This was the first time 
I saw what a bewildering effect noise can have on an otherwise 
fleet-footed animal. All the boys gave chase, cleverly spreading out 
and yelling at the tops of their voices—the nearest throwing their 
knobkerries at the fleeing animal. I thought they were quite mad 
to chase a hare, but it became more and more confused and zig- 
zagged all over the place, so that whichever way it turned it found 
itself heading for the yelling natives on the flanks. To my com- 
plete surprise they clubbed it after a very short run and at the 
end it seemed to be too terrified to progress normally owing to 
the effect of the din. 
