A GUINEA-FOWL DRIVE 



T was the New-Year's 

 morning of 1906 when 

 our party of fourteen 

 guns started from good 

 old Jan Vandevord's 

 quaint Natalian home- 

 stead for a day's covert 

 shooting in the sweetly 

 scented wattle and 

 eucalyptus plantations 

 which clothed the 

 neighbouring hills, 

 within the borders of Oom Jan's extensive property. 



The first covert was a mere strip of spinney in com- 

 parison with the larger plantations, some of which 

 covered an area of at least 200 acres. The narrow wood 

 yielded a few hares. The beaters declared they set 

 afoot a couple of steinbok during the beat, but the little 

 antelope must have broken covert without being viewed 

 away by any of the guns posted outside. In any case, 

 no one admitted having seen or shot at anything more 

 important than a hare. 



The beating of the second covert was a very different 

 matter from that of the first, it being quite a forest in 

 comparison. For the convenience of transporting 

 127 



