186 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



farther along the rough nullah-crossed, boulder-strewn 

 veldt track that did duty for a road. 



Day was just dawning, and the first bright streaks 

 of early morning were beginning to show above 

 the summits of a far-away broken chain of brown 

 kopjes. As far as the eye could reach, a vast expanse 

 of rank-verdure clad, level veldt stretched away to the 

 hazy blue horizon, a cluster of hive -like Kaffir kraals, 

 a few stunted acacige-trees, patches of sugar and wach- 

 een-bitjee bush being the only objects to break the 

 wearying monotony of mile upon mile of virgin plain. 



Some three leagues to the northward of our outspan 

 ran the Limpopo, the dense belt of jungle fringing its 

 banks being dimly visible from the Pretoria-Pietersburg 

 road along which we were then travelling en route to 

 Bulawayo. To the westward lay a small reed-fringed 

 pan or lagoon of water, and at no great distance from it 

 was a large patch of sugar-bush interspersed with long 

 grass and rough cover, which appeared likely ground 

 for korhaan, francolin, and quail. 



Upon arriving at H 's outspan, I found that he had 



finished breakfast and was ready for the fray, while 

 Jacob had mustered his ebon force of beaters. And a 

 mixed lot they were, consisting of two Zulus, three 

 Basutos, two Swazis, three Fingoes, and a tiny yellow 

 monkey-like Bushman, who, in spite of his thieving 

 propensities (he would steal the most useless articles 

 for the sake of stealing), was by far and away the best 

 horse and mule boy we had. 



