A Breath from the Veldt 37 



game most gallantly, and eventually turned the buck towards the hills, and 

 hauled him down in a cloud of dust some 200 yards ahead of the cart as we 

 careered along at full speed. The springbuck, which proved to be a good ram, 

 was soon grallocked and packed on the cart ; and as darkness was now setting 

 in we hastened towards the lights of the farmhouse, where we received a most 

 hospitable welcome from Mr. Weber's black servant, Abraham, the master and 

 mistress being absent at the time. 



An excellent meal of chops and eggs speedily refreshed our bodies, and we 

 were soon as merry as sandboys, shooting our shots over again, and vowing the 

 springbuck was the most infernal brute on this wide, wide earth to slay. Then 

 we turned in for the night, some to sleep on the floor, some on sofas, I myself 

 being honoured with a real bed, as I was the only one who had been so 

 fortunate as to slay a buck. This was a wonderful bed of the wide Dutch type, 

 covered with one of those big feather-mattresses into which you go " squash " 

 and never know where you are going to stop ; redolent, too, of the faint 

 atmosphere of the farmyard still lingering within its folds. Five o'clock next 

 morning saw us all up and fighting for washing materials ; then a hurried break- 

 fast, and all are inspanned and off by six. We hear that most of the springbuck are 

 to the left of the farm on ground untouched the previous night ; so we determine 

 to take this in, and by a circuitous route work gradually back to Beaufort West, 

 a distance of thirteen miles, keeping the left flank well forward to head the big 

 troop of buck from working out in the main Karroo, and to get them split up 

 if possible. For a long time we saw but a few animals, and during a short burst 

 after them the cart occupied by Mr. Peter Flower came to utter grief; but having 

 patched it up as well as we could with " reims," we went on again. By and by, 

 just as the pleasant warmth of the morning sun began to play on the great plains, 

 a most beautiful sight presented itself The main troop of springbuck, number- 

 ing, at a rough guess, about 800 animals, moved by the carts on the far right 

 and were seen advancing towards us in a perfect mirage, the whole mass of them 

 appearing in one long line, with the counterpart of each reversed beneath him. 

 They seemed to be coming along in a leisurely manner, but in reality they were 

 travelling at considerable speed — a fact we soon became aware of, as it took us 

 all our time to gallop the cart forward and split them up. A number of troops 

 also followed the big one ; the Doctor therefore deemed it advisable that we 

 should separate ; so he betook himself to his black pony, which William, his 

 half-caste boy, brought up, and the boy joined me in the cart and took the 

 reins. My friend galloped forward for half a mile, and shortly afterwards I 



