150 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



more of the fan. I deliberated for a few seconds \\liethei 

 T would shoot the ball first or one of the hounds, and 

 ended by shooting the gnoo and the largest hound right 

 and left. The bull, on receiving the ball, bounded out 

 of the fountain ; but, suddenly wheeling about, he re- 

 entered it, and, staggering violently for a moment, sub- 

 sided in its waters. The hound got the bullet through 

 his heart, and, springing forward from his comrades, 

 instantly measured his length upon the gravel. I then 

 quickly reloaded my rifle, lying on my side ; a proceed- 

 ing which, I may inform those who have not yet tried 

 it, is rather difficult to accomplish. While 1 was thus 

 occupied the three remaining hounds reluctantly with- 

 drew, and described a semicircle to leeward of me for 

 the purpose of obtaining my wind and more correctly 

 ascertaining^ the cause of their discomfitui'e. Havins; 

 loaded, I reopened my fire, and wounded another, when- 

 Ihey all made off. 



I could not help feeling very reluctant to fire at the 

 jolly hounds. The whole affair reminded me so very 

 forcibly of many gallant courses I had enjoyed in the 

 Scottish deer-forests with my own noble deer-hounds, 

 that I could not divest myself of the idea that those 

 now before me deserved a better recompense for the 

 masterly manner in which they were pursuing their 

 desperate game. One hound, in particular, bore a 

 strong expres.sion of dear old Factor in his face, a trusty 

 stag-hound bred by myself, whose deeds, though not re- 

 nowned in verse like Ossian's Oscar and Luath, were 

 perhaps little inferior either in speed or prowess to those 

 lamed in ancient song.* 



* The wild dogs, or " wilde honden," as they ai'e termed by the 

 Dutch Boers, are still abundant in the precincts of the Cape colony, and 

 are met with in great numbers throughout the interior. These animals 



