236 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



politics. Whatever failings the Boers may possess, 

 inhospitality is not one of them ; and upon entering the 

 big living room of Oom Jan's homestead, we found an 

 excellent repast waiting to be " wolfed " by our hungry 

 party. High-tea, or whatever the meal might be termed, 

 was not finished until the fiery red sun had begun to 

 sink behind a low range of brown kopjes ; and 

 while S and myself settled down into the comfort- 

 able depths of a couple of Madeira chairs for a long chat 

 and a longer smoke with our host, the other men took 

 their guns to try and get a stray shot before darkness 

 set in. 



De V was reciting his experiences as a sportsman, 



in the days when vast herds of antelope used to roam 

 unmolested over the very spot upon which Johannesburg 

 and its suburbs now stand, when the faint and distant 

 report of four barrels came to our ears, followed by the 

 sound of more shots. Half-an-hour later our friends 

 returned with a magnificent specimen of a spur-wing 

 gander and a couple of black-winged stilts, which they 

 had shot on a swampy bit of veldt lying about a mile 

 distant from the homestead. Both confessed to having 

 shot very badly, and admitted that their bag ought to 

 have been as heavy again. 



As an early start was to be made the next morning, 

 neither of us dwelt long over our host's excellent old 

 Montague dop and Magaliesburg tobacco after supper ; 

 and it wanted a good hour to sunrise when a crooning- 

 voiced Kaffir brought a cup of coffee into my bedroom. 



