CHAPTER X 



THE ORYX HUNT— TERRIBLE THIRST — PREHISTORIC 

 WEAPONS. 



SOON after daybreak we saddled up. 

 That day our hunting was to be 

 northward, for thither all the oryx 

 spoor trended. Andries, Hendrick and I 

 rode off together. We had to pass the 

 western end of the long, low ridge noted 

 on the previous evening. Hendrick, just 

 before we started, declared that he saw 

 some " black sticks " protruding near the 

 ridge's eastern extremity. This was difficult to 

 credit when one took the distance into con- 

 sideration, yet we could not help admitting 

 that the Hun had never yet misled us. So we 

 proceeded on the reasonable assumption that 

 his eyes had not on this occasion played him 

 false. 



Assuming the orvx to be where Hendrick 

 affirmed he had seen their horns, we had to en- 

 deavour to give the animals our wind from 

 the proper distance. In hunting the oryx one 



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