26 THE HUNTER'S ARCADIA. 



a penchant for wandering about on the Veldt when 

 his master's eye was not upon him, had heard the 

 disturbance which had necessarily accompanied the 

 late adventure, so very appropriately joined our party ; 

 but, to his disappointment, he was too late to enjoy 

 any of the fun, and just in time to be transformed into 

 a beast of burden to take our spoils of the chase to 

 camp. 



On some burnt ground which had lately been 

 passed over by fire to improve the pasturage, I 

 knocked over a brace of hares, such places ever being 

 a certain find for these animals. Scarcely had they 

 been placed in the bag when I flushed from a clump 

 of charred brush a large covey of what is doubtless 

 one of the finest game birds of South Africa, namely, 

 the larger partridge of the colonists, but which is in 

 reality the Orange River francolin (Franco linus 

 Gariepensis\ a bird of great beauty of plumage, as 

 large as a hen pheasant, and withal as good a table 

 addition as the most fastidious taste could desire. I 

 had no difficulty in obtaining a brace, as they lay 

 remarkably well, being far from wary where cover 

 exists, so after the first flight I quickly marked them 

 down, and further reduced the number of the family 



