CHAPTER V. 



A BUCK-JUMPER FIGHT WITH A ZEBRA. 



THE lateness of the hour at which I retired to rest 

 prevented me leaving my bed till the sun was at 

 least an hour high. The cattle had already been 

 driven off to pasture, and the horse coolie was about 

 to do the same with the nags, when I ordered him 

 to leave the bay behind, as I intended taking a 

 gallop, if for no other purpose than to see what 

 quantity and variety of game was knocking about 

 this vicinity. 



The camp fire had been allowed to burn low, so 

 that it required some patience to make the kettle 

 boil, thus I was delayed in obtaining my cup of 

 coffee ; but while I waited, I observed that numerous 

 vultures were hovering over some object nearly a 

 mile to windward, while numbers of the same species 

 of bird were hurrying on rapid pinions in the same 

 direction. "Carrion is there of some sort, and not 

 impossibly that of one of the beasts I shot at last 

 night," thought I ; so I resolved to go in that 

 direction as soon as I had partaken of my morning 

 repast. Younger and more ardent men probably 



