380 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



" Well, the Kaffirs and Hottentots, to the number 

 of 700, for some time had all their own way, and 

 ravaged, plundered, burned, and murdered the 

 Boers and their farms, even up to Zwartberg, and 

 Lange Kloof, between here and the sea. While 

 they were in that neighbourhood, a band of them, 

 inspired by the seven Hottentots of Prinsloo's Kloof, 

 came up the Gamtoos River, in this direction, and 

 met with Jan Prinsloo and a few other Boers, who 

 were trekking out of the disturbed district with their 

 waggons, and who had come to reconnoitre in a 

 poort, fifteen miles away from here. All the Boers 

 were surprised and slain, excepting Prinsloo ; and 

 while the Kaffirs and other Hottentots stayed to 

 plunder the waggons, Prinsloo's seven servants, who 

 were all mounted on stolen horses, chased him like 

 * wilde honde ' hunting a hartebeest, for many 

 hours ; for Jan rode like a madman, and gave them 

 the slip for three hours, while he lay hid up in a 

 kloof; until, at last, as night came on, they pressed 

 him into his own den here. 



" It was yesterday, but years ago, just when the 

 summer is hottest and the thunder comes on, and 

 just in such a storm as last night's, the maddened 

 Hottentots, thirsting for the murderer's blood, hunted 

 Prinsloo up through the poort. They were all light 

 men and well mounted, and towards the end gained 

 fast upon him, although Jan, who rode a great ' rooi 

 schimmel ' (red roan) horse, the best of his stud, 

 rode as he had never ridden before. Up the kloof 

 they clattered, the Hottentots close at his heels now. 

 Prinsloo galloped to the great kraal there, jumped off 

 his horse, and ran inside, like a leopard among his 



* The wild hunting dogs of the Cape (Lycaon pictus). 



