ICO A Breath from the Veldt 



koodoo cows, but they disappeared in the thick bush without giving us a 

 chance. We saw too for the first time some spoor of ostrich and roan antelope 

 quite fresh, and so began at last to feel in touch with the animals we had come 



to hunt. 



From the top of this kopjie a splendid panorama of the country spreads itself 

 north to Victoria and eastwards to the Michelsfontein ; so we sat long while 

 our horses grazed beneath, alternately admiring the prospect and scanning likely 

 bits of bush with the glass. A big troop of guinea-fowls now moved past the 

 base of the kopjie, following each other in their afternoon trek to the water, 

 and I had a fine opportunity for observing their manoeuvres whilst on the move. 

 At length, tired of inaction, we determined to make for the water, which we 

 hoped to reach at sunset. 



Another long ride of two hours brought us in face of the first dense patches 

 of bush near the water, where the partridges and brown red-necked francolins 

 were already starting their usual evening screeching ; and Oom, pointing down- 

 wards, called my attention to the fresh spoor and droppings of a troop of koodoo. 

 It was so fresh that we decided to follow it as far as we could, and had hardly 

 set our horses in motion when we observed the last of the troop, an old cow, 

 entering a patch of bush close to the water, 300 yards immediately in front of 

 us. Most of the country round us was so open that we felt we fairly had them 

 on easy terms, and my heart beat high in expectation of there being a bull 

 amongst them. 



My companion now took a line parallel to the animals, and after pursuing 

 it along the edge of the thicket, we presently saw the whole lot — seven cows — 

 walking quietly within 100 yards of us. They at once started away with great 

 bounds, switching their snowy tails amid the dark thorn-trees. And now our 

 plan was to make them break cover, driving them into the open ; but this 

 they refused to do, preferring to stand together in a bunch outside the last few 

 trees, and evidently not having made up their minds which line to take. I 

 was much disappointed at not seeing a bull, so I let Oom take the first shot, as 

 I knew he was sure of getting his meat, which he much needed, whilst I stood 

 on a mound in the middle of the bush to intercept the animals if they broke 

 across from the cover again. A loud " whack " on an old cow's ribs proclaimed 

 the success of my companion's shot, and the whole troop came slowly across 

 me, whilst I withheld my fire till they stopped. They stood badly for me, 

 and the first at which I fired whirled round and made off with the rest, just as 

 a splendid bull rose out of the thorns within thirty yards of me and dashed after 



