SECOND EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA 89 
stop when I wished to go on, and zie versa, and [ sent an 
answer in this spirit ; but, ‘thanks be praised,’ I repented of my 
churlishness in an hour after the departure of the messenger, 
and wrote a second letter, begging Major Vardon to ignore the 
first, pardon my selfishness, and join me as soon as possible ; 
and to the end of my life I shall rejoice that I did so, for in 
three days the finest fellow and best comrade a man ever had 
made his appearance. 
_ Thad been fortunate in finding elephants early, had shot 
three fine bulls, and in consequence of having had avery long ride 
the day before, after a herd we never came up with (we started 
at 8 A.M. one morning and only reached the waggons again next 
_ day at 7 4.m.), I returned to camp about 3 p.m., and introduced 
_ myself to my new companion, who had just arrived. I will not 
"attempt to describe him—let every man picture for himself the 
"most perfect fellow traveller he can imagine, and that’s Frank ; 
"brightest, bravest-hearted of men, with the most unselfish 
_ of dispositions, totally ignorant of jealousy, the most trust- 
worthy of mates ; a better sportsman, and better shot than 
myself at all kinds of game save elephants, and only a 
little behindhand in that, because he was a heavy weight and 
_ poorly armed with a single-barrelled rifle ; yet he was always 
"rejoicing in my success, and making light of his own dis- 
_ appointments—and this man I had all but missed ! 
__._ Sometimes we would take a day together after elephant or 
_ buffalo, and occasionally we met by accident, our beats cutting 
- one another, and the sound of the guns showing our whereabouts. 
Once having come together in this way, we saw the finest struggle 
of brute force I ever witnessed. We were making tracks back 
to the camp, walking our horses slowly along the bank of the 
river, when Frank got off to shoot a waterbuck (Azgoceros el- 
“ipsiprymnus). A shout followed the report of his rifle. Dis- 
mounting, for the bush was thick, I soon joined him. In stalk- 
_ ing the waterbuck he had come across buffalo, and had wounded 
one, which with two others was still in view. I started in pursuit 
_ and soon outran Vardon, for he was stout, one Kafir holding with 
