A Breath from the Veldt 287 



he said, to leave him all alone in the Veldt, and he would tell his mother what 

 he thought about it when he returned home. To Englishmen, the idea of a 

 big hulking fellow of five and twenty behaving like a petulant child, is 

 decidedly comic ; but amongst the Boers this kind of thing is common enough. 

 The Boer at his best is a good fellow fairly comparable with a well-bred 

 Englishman, but too many of them are sulky, quarrelsome, and childish ; and 

 of these two types I doubt if better examples could be found than Oom Roelef 

 and his step-son — the former one of Nature's gentlemen, the latter a conceited 

 and ignorant lout. 



As we had anticipated, Piet and Tace had good sport during our absence, 

 for the game had been gradually drawing in to the big river, under the 

 attractions of the sweet young grass which had been springing up of late on the 

 charred and burnt lands. Several waterbuck, pallah, and koodoo had fallen to 

 their rifles, the last named including three fine old bulls. Piet, whose first 

 year it was in the hunting veldt, had done remarkably well, killing the majority 

 of the animals, and amongst other creatures, the finest leopard I have ever seen. 

 I am sorry I did not take the exact measurements, for he was an immense brute 

 and in splendid coat. Piet had had quite a little adventure with him. He 

 came upon him one evening close to camp ; and getting an easy chance, the 

 animal fell to his shot at once. On approaching, however, the apparently dead 

 beast suddenly recovered and charged for a short distance ; but owing to the 

 nature of the wound, which was high and far back, he was compelled to stop 

 for a moment, when another bullet in his chest left him nothing more to wish for. 

 Another day — also close to camp- — Piet encountered five lions, but on his 

 approach they made off rapidly towards the long grass by the river. A lioness, 

 however, stood for a moment and gave him a fair chance, which Piet, who is 

 an excellent shot, ought, as he admitted, to have made more of. She was 

 apparently hit low and far back (a great deal of blood coming from her), and 

 he and Tace followed her spoor till they heard some most emphatic expressions of 

 anger proceeding from the long grass. Having no suitable dogs, and no desire 

 to distinguish themselves like the heroes of sporting novels, they wisely left 

 the irate lady alone, cursing the thick bush that cost poor Piet the loss of his 

 first lion — a lion that, in the open forest and with a horse under him, he would 

 in all probability have bagged. He was very lucky, however, in coming across 

 game ; and on another occasion a fine lion appeared standing under a malala 

 tree, but though he made for it with the haste of a running footman, the lack 

 of a horse prevented his getting within shot. 



