50 Eecollections of Adventures 



purpose of grasping the rough herbage on which tha 

 animal feeds. 



Philip Minnaar, sometimes my hunting com- 

 panion, was one of the coolest, pluckiest men I ever 

 met a splendid fellow. One day he saved my life. 

 I had hit a buffalo cow and he could not see where 

 she hid until we saw her standing on an open place, 

 behind a burnt tree stump. We left our horses and 

 went towards her, when she charged me. Minnaar 

 called out " don't fire until I have loaded," but she 

 came on so fast that I aimed stupidly at her fore- 

 head, the ball glanced off her horn and never made 

 her halt. Minnaar rammed his charge home, ran 

 sideways towards her and shot her behind the 

 shoulder, and she rolled over at my feet. There was 

 no tree near, and nothing could have saved me had 

 he failed to kill her. Now that I am over seventy 

 and stiff, I can hardly believe that I could jump into 

 the saddle with my gun in my hand, without stirrups, 

 and load and shoot at full gallop ; and ride from 

 Durban to Pretoria and back two or three or more 

 times a year. 



I was returning from Waterberg Warm Baths 

 and rested the horses over Sunday at Willein 

 Boshof 's on the lower Apies River. After prayers 

 (it was Sunday), two young Boers and I went 

 for a swim in a deep pool near the house. They 

 assured me that there was no danger of crocodiles, 

 as the pool was a distance from the river. I 

 undressed several yards distance from where they 

 got in, and just as I was diving I saw an animal 

 plunge into the water not far from me. I scrambled 

 out at once, convinced it was a " croc," but the two 

 youths, although they got out when I shouted to 

 them, said I had only seen a large iguana, of which 

 there were plenty. During that week a Kaffir 



