THE LEGEND OF JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. 367 



and their causes had so far completely baffled 

 Stephen Goodrick. He had tried all sorts of plans, 

 changed the horses, and even had them all turned 

 loose together in the great stone kraal, but with the 

 same results. They were found over and over again 

 at night, mad with fear and drenched with sweat, 

 trampling and plunging in the stable, or tearing 

 about the enclosure. 



Cupido and the Kaffirs, and his own Swellendam 

 Hottentots, had been questioned and cross-examined, 

 but to no purpose. Twice had Goodrick remained 

 on the watch all night. On one occasion he believed 

 he had seen a figure move quickly past him in the 

 dark night, and the horses had been disturbed at the 

 same time ; but nothing further could be traced, and 

 no spoor of man or quadruped was ever discovered. 

 The thing was a mystery. At length, one moonlight 

 night, Goodrick ran out, hearing the now familiar 

 noises, and taking with him his great brindled dog 

 "Tao"(so called from the Bechuana name for lion, 

 bestowed upon him when, as a puppy, his master had 

 first taken him up into the interior, and he had, on 

 his introduction to the king of beasts, single-handed, 

 driven his tawny majesty from his shelter in a dense 

 reed-bed), who had often hunted elephant, rhinoceros, 

 buffalo, and lion, he quickly went round to the 

 stable. 



At this moment the two Kaffir herds also came 

 running out on hearing the noise. Just as they 

 approached the stable together they beheld a figure 

 pass through the open doorway, as they supposed, 

 and swiftly glide away to the hillside. The dark 

 figure was clad in a broad-brimmed Boer hat and 

 quaintly-cut old-fashioned looking dress, as Goodrick 



