112 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



from the native inhabitants, not enough, in fact, 

 to spare for any of our horses. Native boys at a 

 pinch can live for weeks on absolutely nothing 

 but meat, but we always tried to give ours at least 

 a small ration of grain daily in addition. Even 

 a tiny cupful, with plenty of meat, makes all the 

 difference. We never allowed ourselves to run 

 short of salt, a little salt being tremendously 

 appreciated by the boys, and helping besides to 

 keep them healthy. By this time we had to 

 depend entirely upon native grain, stamped up 

 into flour by the women at their kraals, for our 

 own bread and porridge. Rensberg was as usual 

 the man to procure the necessary meat, and shot, 

 the first evening, two beautiful sable from a big 

 mob that came on to the flat below us. 



This handsome buck can be a very determined 

 fighter when bailed up, and a dangerous enemy to 

 dogs : the large curved horns are sharp as daggers, 

 and as he strikes out, the long side-way sweep 

 throws them right back over his shoulder with a 

 deadly swish. Even the lion, the great buck- 

 killer himself, has to be very careful, for, as old 

 Rensberg says, " If he [the sable] sticks his behind 

 into a durn bush, he [the lion] can't do noddings 

 to him." 



We needed a lot of meat those days for ourselves 

 and for our boys and to keep the camp going 

 generally, and I rather encouraged the wandering 

 savages who visited us in the hope of gaining a 

 piece of meat ; for by this means we were kept 



