324 LARGE GAME. CHAP. vn. 



second; but having seemingly made up her mind, she 

 came on again at full swing. Luck befriended her, and 

 the score of assagais that came hurtling through the air 

 all fell wide, and she kept on until not a yard from one 

 of the men ; just as I expected to see her fall to his 

 poised spear she made a tremendous bound over him, and 

 in a second more was galloping away in safety, leaving him 

 stretched on the ground, with some nasty cuts about the 

 head and chest from her hoofs. It was the only time I ever 

 saw such a thing done, though I not unfrequently heard of 

 it, and once or twice saw men scarred in a similar manner. 



I remember once, at such a hunting party, seeing a 

 free fight among the natives. They had quarrelled about 

 the possession of an antelope, and in two minutes after 

 the first blow was struck upwards of four hundred men 

 were engaged in a series of single combats with their 

 sticks and knobkerries, and, no doubt, when much pushed, 

 making use of their spears. The whole side of a hill was 

 covered with them, and I remember being much struck 

 by their mode of treating the conquered. One man had 

 knocked another down, and by one or two well-aimed 

 blows on the head kept him there. He then proceeded 

 to turn him on his side, and lifting his arm out of the 

 way, to beat him for several minutes with a stick, much 

 as one would thrash out corn or beat a carpet, on the 

 ribs on that side, and then, turning him over, repeat the 

 operation on the other. Ultimately one party ran away, 

 and the other ran after it, and I saw nothing more of any 

 of them that day. 



Soon after my return to the colony, after one of 

 my trips into the interior, I went with some friends 



