A Breath from the Veldt 313 



reach my own camp before dark. Indeed I failed to achieve this. The sun 

 sank below the horizon at least an hour before our camp fires came into sight, 

 and there being no moon, it would have gone hard with me to find my way 

 back had not the ponies known the path well. And now another misadventure 

 befell us. About nine o'clock, when I was trudging along on Brenke, leading 

 Spotty in my rear, and every moment expecting to see the glow of the fires in 



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OOM ROELEF ASLEEP 



the sky, came the rush of some wild animal through the grass and across the 

 path immediately behind Spotty, which caused that otherwise quiet nag to 

 spring suddenly forward in terror and strike me a violent blow in the back. 

 The concussion was so sudden and unexpected that I was thrown forward on to 

 Brenke's neck, and at the same moment both horses started off down the path 

 in a mad gallop. Things would have been all right if I could have regained 

 my seat at once, but the displacement of my weight unfortunately caused my 

 pony to cross his legs, and down we both came in as fine a cropper as ever fell 



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