250 



A Breath from the Veldt 



did, for I don't know how otherwise we should have got through our day, as we 

 started at daybreak, and were not back into camp till long after sundown. 



For about two hours Clas led us along a dry malala watercourse, and we 

 were just thinking of sitting down for a few minutes, when by his movements 

 I knew he had seen something. At first neither Van Staden nor I could make 

 out anything in the distance, but after a minute or two a sable antelope walked 

 out from beneath a palm, shortly followed by several others. As they had not 

 seen us, and there were many trees about, we decided on a stalk ; and after a 

 series of manoeuvres, and much dragging of ourselves along the burning ground, 



A DEAD KOODOO BULL 

 Showing how unnoticeable the body of the animal may become when the sun is playing upon it.^ 



we got within i 50 yards of the nearest cow. And now we saw that the troop 

 consisted of about the usual number — twenty cows and quite young bulls, along 

 with two bulls that seemed to be of mature age. One rarely sees, however, 

 more than one old bull in a troop composed of mixed sexes ; so I may possibly 

 have been mistaken. At any rate two of the males seemed to carry fine horns, 

 one particularly so. While we lay watching them from the shelter of a stunted 

 malala, the animals suddenly made a turn in our direction, walking slowly along, 

 and every now and then stopping to gaze around. I now saw that they would 

 give me a good chance if I waited till they crossed our bows. Some movement, 

 however, caught the sharp eye of one of the watch-cows, and I knew in a 



1 From photographs by Mr. G. W. Banes. 



