76 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



hound, and yet he would suddenly halt in full career 

 when I wished to fire, if I merely placed my hand upon 

 his neck. From his back I subsequently shot many ele- 

 phants and other game, and his name will often appear 

 in after pages. At the farm of Messrs. Nelson and 

 Blane I purchased two more horses, which I called 

 Brown Jock and Mazeppa, and also a span of oxen and 

 some milch cows. 



On the 2d of April I entered the village of Colesberg, 

 where I was actively employed in making final prepa- 

 rations for my distant campaign until the 9th. I en- 

 gaged two Hottentot servants named Booi and Klein- 

 feldt, the latter individual being one of those who had 

 forsaken my banner at Bootlonamy, and I purchased 

 two more valuable steeds, which increased my stud to 

 ten very superior young horses. I also purchased a 

 number of rough, long-legged serviceable dogs, of a va- 

 riety of breeds, which, with several other ragged-look- 

 ing tykes that I subsequently purchased from Boers 

 along the line of march, increased my kennel to about 

 twenty business-like dogs. At sunrise on the 9th we 

 marched out of the village and held on until we reach- 

 ed the Orange River at Boata's Drift, where we out- 

 spanned beneath the shade of a grove of willows. Hav- 

 ing crossed the river on horseback, it proved too deep 

 to take the wagons over, but I had the consolation to 

 remark that the waters were on the ebb, and by the 

 forenoon of the following day they had so far subsided 

 that I was enabled to cross the great river without wet- 

 ting my cargo. The ascension of the opposite side 

 proved extremely severe, being an almost perpendicular 

 bank of soft sand, and I was obliged to relieve the wag- 

 on of half its load before the oxen could drag it to the 

 more practicable road beyond. 



