88 Notes on South African Hunting, 
Our murder—Boers. 
When we got out to Shoshong, we were 
informed that a report had got about that we 
had been killed. Journeying southward I 
gradually learnt the details of our supposed 
murder. It may be remembered that a report 
appeared in most of the English newspapers, 
saying that we had been killed by natives in a 
singularly brutal manner. I may take this 
opportunity of saying that we were not. I 
should be most unwilling to say plainly that the 
report was spread about by the lowest class of 
Boers, but the little evidence I have been able 
to collect seems to point that way. 
I heard that some Boers whom we met when 
we were going up, before Ayton and I had left 
the wagons at all, reported that I had been lost 
in the veldt, and had been found nearly dead 
with thirst. This was untrue. 
When I got to Mafeking, I was told that a 
Boer had been seen who had said positively that 
he had just come from Matebeleland; that he had 
seen our bodies lying in the veldt, mine with 
eleven assegai wounds in it, and Ayton’s with 
seven. What gave more color to this story 
was, that he described how we were dressed. 
