only goat, and had to leave the carcase with a note 

 of explanation Jim being out when he called. What 

 he heard from us when he returned, all prickly with 

 remorse and shame, was a liberal education ; but what 

 he remembers best is Jim's note addressed that evening 

 to our camp : 



" Boys ! Jim Hill requests your company to dinner 

 to-morrow, Sunday ! 



" Mutton ! " 



As the summer spent itself, and whispers spread 

 around of new strikes further on, a spirit of restlessness 

 a touch of trek fever came upon us, and each 

 cast about which way to try his luck. Our camp was 

 the summer headquarters of two transport-riders, 

 and when many months of hard work, timber-cutting 

 on the Berg, contracting for the Companies, pole- 

 slipping in the bush, and other things, gave us at last 

 a f rise,' it seemed the natural thing to put it all into 

 waggons and oxen, and go transport-riding too. 



The charm of a life of freedom and complete in- 

 dependence a life in which a man goes as and where 

 he lists, and carries his home with him is great indeed ; 

 but great too was the fact that hunting would go 

 with it. _^, 



How the little things that mark a new departure 

 stamp themselves indelibly on the memory ! A 

 flower in the hedgerow where the roads divide will 

 mark the spot in one's mind for ever ; and yet a million 

 more, before and after, and all as beautiful, are passed 

 unseen. In memory, it is all as fresh, bright and 

 glorious as ever : only the years have gone. The 

 1 7 B ^.^g 



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