I LOSE MY SADDLE. 
187 
ground being good, after in vain trying to drive him 
towards the wagons, I finished him with another 
shot behind the shoulder. I have had my gun cut 
down by the Bastards. She is now ridiculously 
short—barely 18 inches-—but uncommonly handy on 
horseback, and she appears to shoot as well as before. 
I bagged 11 pigeons and 4 ducks with her in two 
discharges. 
11/A [Sunday ).— Kleinboy last night carelessly 
left out my saddle, which I had lent to Swartz. 
Though it was not two yards from the wagons, and 
there were lots of dogs and Kaffirs sleeping out, the 
wolves took it bodily away; and though we turned 
out the last man in search, as yet we have only found 
the girths, stirrups, and one buckle of a stirrup- 
leather, which we found a good half-mile from the 
wagons. This is most unfortunate, as no amount of 
money can replace the loss here. If I could only 
recover the old saddle-tree, I could patch it up 
somehow or other to answer the desired purpose ; 
but a good saddle in this country is quite indis¬ 
pensable, as the horses’ backs are very liable to get 
sore, notwithstanding all the care that can be taken. 
13/A.—■ Bound the cork out of the bottle, and the 
last drop of ink spilled, and had to continue my 
journal with a mixture of gunpowder and water. 
15/A.— No elephants yet. I saw this morning 
three beautiful harrisbucks, as I was strolling on in 
front of the wagons, unfortunately without my 
gun. 
