240 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



as crystal, wound its serpentine course through beds of 

 azure-blue lobelia, and clumps of flowering shrubs and 

 thorn-bush. Feathery tree-ferns and graceful willows 

 fringed the banks of the little brook, and in parts its 

 rippleless surface was simply carpeted with eucharist and 

 purple water-lilies. Many other kinds of brilliantly 

 tinted blossoms adorned the oozy shores of this mountain 

 stream, while maidenhair ferns, scarlet and variegated 

 gladioli, bright blue moon-daisies and a hundred different 

 species of hill-loving plants, many of which were un- 

 familiar to us, peeped out from the nooks and crannies 

 of the towering heights above us. 



So peacefully beautiful was this little kloof among the 

 kopjes that a feeling akin to sadness crept over me as 

 once more the far-reaching waste of barren, treeless veldt 

 opened out before my eyes — that feeling of sadness one 

 experiences upon awakening from a pleasant dream to 

 the sordid realities of everyday life. 



Upon reaching the high veldt we put our ponies into a 



smart gallop, and very soon arrived at Herr von S 's 



charming, rose-covered bungalow. 



Greatly to our disappointment we found that our host 

 had been summoned by wire to Durban a few hours 

 before our arrival. He had, however, been thoughtful 

 of our welfare, and his kindly old German housekeeper, 

 Frau Gertrude, served us with a most appetising little 

 Zweites frustuck (second breakfast) on the blossom- 

 festooned stoe'p^ with the river babbling at our feet. 



Breakfast finished, the light 10 - foot " Hardy's " 



