xiv GEMSBUCKS AND ZEBRAS 265 



Matabele and several Bushmen, rode out in search 

 of the herd of gemsbucks I had seen the pre- 

 vious day whilst chasing the bull. We took up 

 their yesterday's tracks, and after following them 

 for several hours, found that they had joined 

 company with a herd of Burchell's zebras, with 

 which animals they were still feeding when we at 

 last overtook them. There were about fifteen 

 gemsbucks (the largest number of these animals 

 I have ever seen together) and as many zebras. 

 The country where we found them being perfectly 

 open, they, of course, saw us when we were still a 

 long way off, and at once went off, with a long start, 

 the gemsbucks leading and the zebras running 

 close behind them. 



The horse I was riding the same with which I 

 had chased the gemsbuck bull on the previous day 

 was one of the finest shooting horses I ever 

 owned, and though no longer young, was both fast 

 and possessed of great staying power. He was, 

 too, a wonderfully sure-footed animal, and just now 

 in splendid hard condition. Had the zebras been 

 alone, they would have gone off at a leisurely pace, 

 but being led by the gemsbucks, they kept close on 

 their heels. These latter animals, according to my 

 experience, when disturbed never run off in a 

 leisurely way, nor even, if not pressed, do they keep 

 stopping and looking back at their pursuer like 

 almost all other antelopes, but go off at once at such 

 a tearing pace, that although it is not the utmost 

 speed they are capable of when hard pressed, is yet 

 sufficiently fast to make it impossible to t^et near 

 them at all without hard galloping. Owing to the 

 long- start they had got, I daresay I had galloped 

 two, perhaps three, miles before my horse had 

 carried me close up behind the zebras. These 

 latter, running well together some fifty yards behind 

 the gemsbucks, raised a tremendous dust, and, as in 



