A Breath from the Veldt 39 



taking a day's ride, followed by a hot bath, or still better, by never going in 

 a cart at all. I was not sorry, then, when on starting for home after breakfast, 

 the Doctor kindly gave me a mount on his pony " Blackie." 



On the way we fell in with some more buck and had some more shots. 

 Blackie was the most perfectly-trained shooting-pony that I had. ever ridden 

 — a real treasure — apparently enjoying the shooting just as much as any 

 English hunter does his particular form of sport. He was a high-spirited 

 little pony, about fourteen hands, and though finely built about the legs, was 

 as strong and sure over rough ground as a Basuto. Strange to say, too, he 

 had been regularly used for racing, which generally unfits any horse for 

 shooting purposes. The moment he was wanted to stop, he did so, and after 

 the reins were thrown over his head he would stand like a rock .though you 

 fired many shots round or even across him, a proceeding few horses care much 

 about. Such a little horse is as rare in South Africa as anywhere else ; and 

 though I afterwards bought him from Maloney, I did not take him into the 

 interior with me — a fact I bitterly regretted during the whole of my trip. 



Quite at the end of our hunt, amongst the last few bucks that came past 

 us, I managed to intercept an old ewe, which became so confused as to stand 

 and give me a couple of chances within 200 yards, a very unusual occurrence. 

 My second shot disabled her, and I was mounting my horse again when I 

 saw the big greyhound half-way towards the springbuck and knew that the 

 Doctor had seen how matters stood. The ewe was, however, too badly hit 

 to run, and I quickly put her out of pain and rejoined my companion, who 

 had just killed a ram and was following another which he had wounded, but 

 it eventually got away after a considerable hunt. 



Thus ended our day's hunt, and we were home again at Beaufort West 

 early in the afternoon, having had a most enjoyable day's sport. This was 

 only the first of many delightful days spent on the Kalk with my friend 

 Dr. Maloney, and though the bag was generally reversed, he usually killing 

 as many as three or four buck while I was quite content when I got one, I 

 thoroughly enjoyed myself in the fine air, and soon got very fit with the hard 

 exercise on Blackie, whom I always afterwards rode. 



It did me so much good that two friends and myself decided to camp out 

 on Mr. Weber's farm, in accordance with his kind invitation, as I knew I 

 could not have a better opportunity for studying the habits of the springbuck. 



Bad luck, however, hampered us from the first day, as the summer rains 

 and thunder-storms burst in all their fury, the evening we were out, and 



