214 THE HUNTER'S ARCADIA. 



that my driver had set a gun for a wolf ( 

 As this mode of killing game more often fails than 

 succeeds, we were not a little surprised to see the 

 deserters return with a leopard. 



In the morning I had a duty to perform far from 

 unpleasant, viz., to despatch a messenger to my old 

 and tried hunting companion, Cigar, to inform him 

 that I had thus far advanced into the country, and 

 intended immediately starting for Honey vley, where I 

 hoped he would join me. This plan I pursued in 

 consequence of an arrangement entered into with him 

 a couple of years previously. As Cigar's name in my 

 future narrative will not unfrequently occur, I may at 

 once state that he was, without exception, the best 

 native sportsman I ever met with in my numerous and 

 varied wanderings. As a shot at game he was equal 

 to any white man ; as a spoofer no Bushman could 

 surpass him. A Hottentot by birth, he had passed 

 his early years in the colony, and in boyhood had 

 been attached to a racing stable, where he had learnt 

 to ride not simply to sit on a horse's back as success- 

 ful pawnbrokers or stockbrokers do in Hyde Park, but 

 unerringly to pilot a second-rate horse, leader to the 

 winning-post. I am sorry to say, however, that this 



