294 ^ Breath from the Veldt 



and horns of a grand sable, looking straight at me within thirty yards. Such a 

 chance was not to be lost. In a moment I slid off the pony, and for once the 

 good little beast stopped quietly by my side as I took the shot. The sable gave 

 a puffing snort (as they always do on being hit) and half fell on his knees ; but 

 quickly recovering, he made off at a canter just as my companions came gallop- 

 ing up, for they had crossed at a point farther down, and now passed me in hot 

 pursuit. Mounting again at once, I followed in their wake, just arriving in 

 time to see Tace off his horse and about to shoot, the sable lying before him up 

 against a great ant-heap. The grand beast, shaking his noble head, looked as 

 only a sable can, ready to receive his coup de grace with a defiant air. My 

 bullet had broken his left shoulder very far forward — a bad shot, though that 

 did not trouble me much at the time, as I had got a trophy really worth 

 having ; indeed so fine a sable head is rarely seen, and Rowland Ward and Co., 

 who have admirably mounted it, say it is the best that has ever passed through 

 their hands. The head, though 45^ inches long, is, strange to say, not that of 

 an adult animal. The horns would, I believe, have grown another 3 or 4 inches 

 had its life been spared. A sportsman examining a number of heads of the sable, 

 will notice that in the horns of adult animals there is a space of from 3 to 4 inches 

 of unribbed horn before the proper annulations commence, and that in the horns 

 of immatures which are growing (as in the specimen above referred to) the big 

 annulations start from almost the very base, beneath which the flesh-coloured 

 corrugations will be seen in process of forming. It will be seen, too, from the 

 photograph of this head on page 293 that the curve of the horns is not com- 

 plete. Another proof of the animal's immaturity was visible in the numerous 

 tawny hairs which besprinkled the mane — hairs such as are never found in the 

 perfectly adult animal. A larger head than this is in the possession of Mr. J. 

 Barber of Johannesburg ; it is 46 inches long. 



My Dutch friends were not a bit interested in the sable head, but they 

 thought that his skin would make good " Voor-slagt " (whip-lashes) and his 

 meat good biltong, so we were all pretty happy. Tace having offered to return 

 to camp and get the boys and oxen to drag home the spoil, the old man and I 

 continued in quest of whatever fortune would favour us with that morning. 

 Nor did the fickle goddess look askance to-day : the luck was all our way, had 

 I only been able to avail myself of it. 



Almost immediately after leaving the spot where the gallant sable had met 

 his end, and while passing over burnt veldt, where the fresh spoor of any 

 animal could easily be distinguished, we suddenly came upon perfectly new 



