HELD UP 87 



contiguous to the scene of the outrage, until some passing 

 Samaritan, white or black, happened to stumble over 

 him. The jehu would be meted out the same kind of 

 treatment as his master; but, being a native, he would 

 receive sundry " cuffs " and "shinnings" to boot, while 

 his equine charges, if not shot dead during the early stages 

 of the proceedings, were released from the vehicle, and 

 allowed to roam at their own sweet will, for clip, dock, 

 or alter the general appearance of a South African horse 

 as you will, the animal still remains an uncomfortable 

 incubus to the man who " jumps " it. The brand- 

 marks give the game away. 



These robberies on the high veld usually proved entirely 

 successful, so much so indeed that the " man in the street " 

 began to suspect and even to hint that more than one 

 of the " held up " treasurers deserved also to be " hauled 

 up " as accessories before the fact. 



On the other hand, however, these gentlemen of the 

 veld occasionally met with a Tartar, as this sketch will 

 presently show. 



A certain young Britisher who had tried his hand 

 at almost everything under the African sun, without 

 " setting the Thames or rather the Vaal on fire," 

 at length obtained a surface billet on one of the principal 

 gold mines on the Rand. Z's duties were by no means 

 arduous, and, being a fine horseman and devoted to Nature 

 and sport, he spent much of his leisure time in the saddle 

 and in studying the fauna and flora of the veld. A boon 

 companion and an excellent raconteur, Z was a general 

 favourite, and although of a somewhat wild, devil-may- 

 care nature he always managed to scrape out of his pecca- 

 dilloes with a certain amount of eclat, and no dance or 



