

CHAPTER XXV. 



CHEETAH ILL-ASSORTED TRAVELLERS. 



HAVING loaded up my prizes, I was about to 

 start homewards, when the conduct of some spring- 

 bok struck me as strange so strange, in fact, that I 

 resolved to unravel the enigma. In front of me 

 were a dozen or more animals of the same species as 

 those I had just slain, distant about four hundred 

 yards. With inquisitive, and at the same time angry 

 look, closely packed together, they kept advancing, 

 every moment one or other showing his or her dis- 

 approbation by an angry stamp of the fore foot. 



I took out my glass and watched them for 

 several minutes, but I could observe nothing that 

 incurred their displeasure. Here was a mystery. 

 Naturally, I formed some ideas of the cause of 

 such strange conduct, and those ideas were, that 

 either a large snake or one of the carnivores were 

 in front of the antelopes ; so, putting my glass 

 into its case, I untied the rheims that bound the 

 game to the cantle of my saddle, took an extra 

 pull upon my girths, mounted, and sought a 



