OUTSPANNED. 133 



the hyena's deep-toned half-whistle, half-sigh struck 

 frequently upon the ear. Several times we passed 

 through considerable areas of brush, but towards 

 daylight we traversed one that seemed interminable. 

 At the coldest hour of the morning, that immediately 

 preceding the advent of day, one of the dogs that 

 had wandered some distance from the track sang 

 out most lustily. I knew from the voice that it 

 was a black Kaffir cur which I had picked up along 

 the road. As she was a plucky little animal, and 

 most watchful at night, I had grown to like her 

 very much, and therefore felt solicitude for her 

 safety. Soon after, however, she joined me, when 

 I discovered over her left cheek two deep longitudinal 

 cuts, evidently the handicraft of some of the cat family. 

 It was not the work of a leopard, for that animal 

 would have carried the bitch off bodily, so I con- 

 cluded it was the doing of a caracal, a near relation 

 of the lynx of Europe and America, and tolerably 

 abundant in the bushy and rocky parts of this country. 

 At sun-up we " outspanned" for a couple of 

 hours, when we again got the bullocks into the 

 yoke, hoping to continue travelling till an hour 

 before the sun reached the meridian. While 



