UNPLEASANT JOURNEY. 141 



vincing me by this one circumstance that I had hit the 

 animal. 



We rode up to where it lay, and I was about dismount- 

 ing and walking up to the spot, when, just as my foot 

 was out of the stirrup, the leopard jumped up, gave a 

 snarl, and bounded off, apparently safe and sound. Both 

 our horses reared and turned round, and, before I could 

 arrange matters, and bring my second barrel to bear, the 

 leopard looked beautifully small at the distance of three 

 hundred yards. I pitched a bullet, however, just over 

 him, with, of course, no result. 



As the sun was nearly setting, we now changed our 

 direction at right angles to the old one, thinking by this 

 that we were steering directly for the road; we were, 

 however, in reality, only now going parallel to it, and at 

 nearly twenty miles' distance. We rode on and on, our 

 horses beginning to show signs of fatigue, we having been 

 in the saddle about six hours, with only half an hour's 

 rest. They had, however, a longer journey before them 

 than we imagined. We soon were overtaken by the dark- 

 ness, and had to fix on particular stars near the horizon 

 as guides ; these sometimes were lost sight of as we went 

 down a kloof. The riding was rather rough, as big pointed 

 stones two or three feet high were pleasantly mixed up 

 with the long grass, about five feet in its growth. It was 

 too dark to see these and avoid them, and more than once 

 horses and riders came floundering down in one heap. 

 Once or twice we were in doubt whether we should camp 

 for the night, or still try to reach the road. We had a 

 consultation about our position, and where we ought to 



