for the purpose of hindering and catching him ; some- 

 times, with a troop of buck moving on ahead or perhaps 

 a wounded one to follow, this old sinner would right- 

 about-face and simply walk off only a few yards 

 separating us with his ears laid back, his tail tucked 

 down ominously, and occasional little liftings of his 

 hindquarters to let me know what to expect and his 

 right eye on me all the while ; and, if I ran to head 

 him off, he would break into a trot and leave me a 

 little worse off than before; and sometimes, in familiar 

 country, he would make straight away for the waggons 

 without more ado. 



It is demoralising in the extreme to be expecting 

 a jerk when in the act of aiming and Snowball, who 

 cared no more for shooting than a deaf gunner, would 

 plunge like a two-year-old when he was play-acting 

 and it is little better, while creeping forward for a 

 shot, to hear your horse strolling off behind and realise 

 that you will have to hunt for him and perhaps walk 

 many miles back to camp without means of carrying 

 anything you may shoot. The result of experience was 

 that I had to choose between two alternatives : either 

 to hook him up to a tree or bush each time or hobble 

 him with his reins, and so lose many good chances of 

 quick shots when coming unexpectedly on game ; or to 

 slip an arm through the reins and take chance of being 

 plucked off my aim or jerked violently backwards as 

 I fired. But it was at the * offsaddles ' on long journeys 

 across country or during the rest in a day's hunt that 

 trouble was most to be feared, and although hobbling 

 is dangerous in a country so full of holes, stumps, and 



39 



