1 66 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



of yards short, but whether in the ricochet it touched 

 him or some of the spelters from it did, I cannot 

 say, but he uttered a suppressed growl as he pressed 

 with speed for his den. This was a splendid beast, 

 one of the largest and most beautifully marked that 

 I had ever seen, therefore my desire to obtain the 

 skin (one of the best prizes as a trophy, in my 

 opinion, that the game of South Africa yields) can 

 well be accounted for. 



Soon we all assembled at the entrance of a 

 krantze (Anglice, cave), and various were the 

 propositions made to induce the powerful and crafty 

 beast to bolt. But none of them appeared feasible, 

 for the interior consisted of numerous ramifications 

 that led quite a distance along the hillside. While 

 this council of war was being held, Old Bull, a 

 half-bred mastiff, puffing and blowing like a 

 grampus from the excessive and unusual fatigue he 

 had suffered, came up and all but accomplished an 

 entrance into it. But that I was near, he would 

 have done so, for the natives were afraid to put 

 their hands on him ; but such fears did not actuate 

 me, for I seized him by his marlinspike-shaped tail, 

 and, sans ceremonie, dragged him out of the orifice, 

 which, if he had had his way, must ultimately have 

 proved his grave. 



I never saw the honest old fellow show his 

 teeth to a friend before, but to me he did on this 

 occasion, and that for saving him from certain 



