

MAKING A YOKE-KEY. 21 



piccctninnie, for its average height, at the shoulder, 

 is about twenty-two inches. 



Near midnight, for the moon proclaimed it to be 

 about that hour, a sound resembling the charge of 

 a troop of cavalry struck upon my ear. At first I 

 thought the noise might be caused by a party of 

 marauding natives out on a filibustering expedition ; 

 for, at the time I write of, there were numbers of 

 both black and white freebooters ravaging the 

 country. So, naturally, I laid hold of the nearest 

 gun, a double lo-bore, and stretched myself full 

 length between the waggon wheels to wait results. 

 Fortunately, I was disappointed in my suspicion, the 

 row being caused by a dozen or more of Burchell's 

 zebras and velde-beests on their way to the vley. 

 My temper, I suppose, was somewhat ruffled at 

 the contretemps, . for I fired both barrels into the 

 brown of them, to pick out a single individual, in 

 the uncertainty of the light, being impossible. I 

 feared I had done mischief, for an ominous thud 

 answered the report, so trusted the victim would 

 not go off wounded, to suffer a lingering death. 

 Daylight would tell the tale, so till then I employed 

 myself finishing the yoke-key, which, when made 

 out of hard wood and any others are almost useless 

 requires some patience and sharp tools to do pro- 

 perly ; so I will tell you, kind reader, just to while 

 away time, something more of my old friend and 

 late companion, the redoubtable Cigar. 



