A Breath from the Veldt 215 



keen, and he will take alarm at the presence of man at a greater distance than 

 any other animal. 



Z2nd June. — This has been a red-letter day with us, though it hardly 

 promised as much at the start. During the morning we saw a fine roi-kat 

 (the red lynx or caracal), but only for a moment. It seemed to be very shy, 

 and its movements (so far as I could judge) more dog-like and less shrinking 

 than those of any other cat except the cheetah. About mid-day we encountered 

 two small troops of Burchell's zebra and some pallah, all of which seem fairly 

 tame ; but though I wanted a couple of these zebra skins, it was thought best 

 not to fire, for fear of moving something better. 



Rather late in the afternoon we began working through some thicker bush, 

 and the presence of the Malala palms showed us that we were again approach- 

 ing the river, when Van Staden, riding in front of me, slipped off- his horse, 

 whispering the magic word " Buffle," upon which I too dismounted. A 

 couple of indistinct black forms could be detected moving slowly away from 

 us, and the constant swishing of tails and occasional grunts proceeding from 

 their direction told me that the old man had spotted the " Groot Vilde " at 

 last. Seeing that the troop, whose size we could only guess, was moving away 

 from us, we crept forward as noiselessly as possible, and soon found ourselves 

 within about seventy yards of a fine buffalo. I was going to fire at it, thinking 

 it was a bull — for to a man who sees the Cape buffalo for the first time, cows, 

 finely horned as this was, look very like bulls — when the old man stopped me, 

 pointing out my mistake ; and round and round we went for a minute or two, 

 hoping to see a good bull. Suddenly a loud grunting snort was heard, and 

 in front of us we saw several buffaloes move together and disappear. There 

 was not a moment to be lost. I could not for the life of me see the shoulder 

 of a cow that Van Staden said was standing looking at us a bit to our left. 

 The beast, he said, was just going, so I whispered to him to take the shot 

 himself, which he did forthwith with excellent effect. Instantly the bush in 

 front of us showed itself alive with animals madly struggling to escape. A 

 troop of about thirty-five started off at full speed, crashing through the thorns 

 and undergrowth like paper, and sending up a cloud of brown dust in their 

 wake that almost hid their black hides ; but over all the row was a sound that 

 cheered the hunter's soul — the loud and resonant death-bellow of the buffalo 

 that had fallen and was struggling to regain her feet. I then gave her a shot, 

 which was in reality unnecessary ; and, seeing that she was done for, we tore back 

 to the horses, and jumping up, made such haste as the thorns would allow in 



