SECOND EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA 103 



my after-rider came up with another gun. I half pulled him 

 from his pony and mounting it caught and killed the rhino- 

 ceros. The horn now hangs over the entrance to my front 

 door. 



That day Frank happened to be again hunting in the same 

 direction as myself, and, hearing the reports of my gun, hoped 

 I might have come up with the elephants I had started after in 

 the morning. He found me sitting under a bush, hatless, and 

 holding up the piece of my scalp with the blood streaming down 

 my face, or, as he afterwards described it to Livingstone, 

 ' I saw that beggar Oswell sitting under a bush holding on his 

 head.' A few words told him what had happened, and then 

 my thoughts turned to Stael. That very morning, as I left 

 the waggons, I had talked to him affectionately, as a man 

 can talk to a good horse, telling him how, when the hunting 

 was over, I would make him fat and happy, and I had played 

 with him and he with me. It was with a very sore heart I put 

 a ball through his head, took the saddle from his back, and 

 started waggonwards, walking half the distance (ten miles), and 

 making my after-rider do likewise. Unless a man has been 

 situated as I was then, it is difficult to make him understand 

 all that the loss of a good horse means. You cannot even fill 

 up his place in quantity, let alone quality. In this part of 

 Africa, at all events, your success depends enormously upon 

 your steed, for the country is generally too open for stalking, and 

 he carries you up to your game, in most instances, as near as 

 you like, and it is your fault if you don't succeed. Had I been 

 the best shot that ever looked along a rifle, and made of steel, 

 I could have done but a trifle without horses, in comparison 

 with what I accomplished with them. Armed as I was with 

 a smooth-bore not very true with heavy charges at over thirty 

 yards, it was a necessity to get as near my game as possible. 

 I am not vain of my shooting I can do what I intend pretty 

 well at from ten to twenty-five yards but I would have given 

 the best shot in the world without horses very long odds ; 

 besides, from the saddle you see so much more of the country, 



