38 Notes on South African Hunting, 
The Thirst. 
time by the sun, the uninitiated and inexperi¬ 
enced get a very vague idea of the thing. We 
had no watches with us. Mine was broken, 
and I fancy Ayton’s resented being wound up 
with a pair of large tweezers—for it retired to 
rest also. 
Now we knew that we were going to pass a 
long series of vleys (hollows holding water) for 
some days, and that then we had a long piece 
to do without water. Our difficulty was to 
know which was the last water; and, needless 
to say, we eventually chose the wrong one. 
After riding on for a couple of days we arrived 
at what I thought must be the last water; so 
we rested all day, and went on at night into 
the long bit of thirst. A few hours on we saw 
some water, or rather liquid mud, but not 
enough to drink. A little farther on we off- 
saddled for an hour or so, and had a cup of 
coffee. As we were saddling up, Ayton noticed 
my horse staring out into the darkness. We 
followed his gaze, and presently we saw a dark 
form about thirty yards off, half hidden by the 
grass. I kicked up the fire, and threw a stick 
at the animal which bounded away. We 
