chap. viii. ANECDOTES OF AXTELOPES. 375 



one will deny, and it is equally difficult to drive them, 

 unless, indeed, you happen to know the particular troop, 

 have often seen it, and been accustomed to notice the 

 direction they usually took when disturbed. In such a 

 case, you may have a shot at them within ten yards, for 

 they always follow their leader, and he having once deter- 

 mined to go through some special pass or hollow, will do 

 so whatever may happen — would, there is little doubt, go 

 over you rather than turn back ; and that this is a common 

 characteristic of several of the shyest of African antelopes 

 has already been mentioned in this book, and is one that 

 I have many times had experience of. 



That night Klaas told me over the fire, among a lot of 

 other hunting stories, how a Dutch Boer in whose service 

 he had lately been had exterminated all the raebuck in his 

 district by galloping them down on horseback, and cutting 

 them off by taking advantage of the above-mentioned pecu- 

 liarity of never swerving from the direction first chosen. 

 Klaas, to his other accomplishments, added that of first- 

 class liar; so, though my curiosity was roused by his story, 

 I waited until I saw the Dutchman with whom I was 

 travelling in the morning, and on finding that he knew 

 that such a thing had been done, I determined to try 

 myself, and had the horses got ready at once. I rode 

 Monarch, a great sixteen-hand brute with a ewe neck 

 and a mouth of iron, but which, despite its ugliness, was 

 remarkably fast, a good stayer, and very game; and I 

 mounted Klaas on Pig, my own shooting pony, with 

 orders to try and keep me in sight if he could. I carried 

 a short breech-loading Terry, very light, and handy for 

 horseback. 



