28 ANACCIDENT. 



seconds. The dirt, dust, and an avalanche of broken 

 sticks, came tumbling down, and blinded me for a moment. 

 Upon looking about me, I found that we had sunk into 

 an old corn-pit, about twelve feet in depth and seven in 

 diameter. The sides were as hard as stone, for a fire is 

 always kept burning for a day or so in the interior when 

 the pit is first made. 



Fortunately, during the fall I was uppermost, otherwise 

 our mingled bones might have been the only intimation 

 that my friends would have had of this misfortune, as the 

 hole was in a very out-of-the way locality. 



My pony struggled at first, but, being a very cool hand, 

 soon became quiet. His hind legs were bent under him 

 like those of a dog when he squats down, his head resting 

 against the side of the pit. I could not reach the top to 

 get out, so I set to work with my knife and cut some holes 

 in the side of the pit, and worked my way out as a New 

 Zealander gets up a tree. I then ran to the hut of a 

 squatter about a mile distant, and obtained the aid of 

 half a dozen Kaffirs with spades and picks. We set to 

 work and dug a sort of ramp, which allowed my horse to 

 walk out. He was very much cramped and rather stiff; 

 but after walking about a little, seemed to be all right, 

 and no ill effects followed from the fall, with the exception 

 of a quantity of hair rubbed away, and the fracture of 

 the saddle-tree. Some Kaffirs had covered this pit over 

 with sticks and turf in hopes of earthing some game. It 

 was fortunate there was no sharp stake driven at the 

 bottom of this pit, as is frequently the case ; one, if not 

 both of us, might then have been impaled. 



