356 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
with a covered spring cart (which I had made long 
enough to sleep in) drawn by four, six, or eight oxen, 
with a small troop of horses I had been buying. I 
had fastened eight of the quietest to the wheels, four 
on each side, as it was a very dark stormy night, 
with a heavy rain, and I feared they might trek 
back again. The rest were grazing near, when 
those attached to the cart got frightened and pulled 
back, the cart began to move, and this alarmed them 
more, and with a sudden jerk they pulled it over on 
the top of themselves broadside, when a frightful 
scene ensued, all pulling different ways, and 
struggling madly in the dark; it was a hazardous 
thing to go near them. At last, we contrived to 
cut them all adrift, and they galloped off into the 
darkness. We righted the wagon again, but it 
was broken to pieces. At daylight we started in 
pursuit of the horses, and being a wet, cold, very 
misty morning, we were more than half a day in 
hunting them up; eventually, we found them under 
the lee side of a large overhanging rock. We 
inspanned and reached the Tugela, to find it flooded. 
Fearful of losing my horses altogether if we had 
another night of it, as there are many Bushmen (all 
horse-stealers) in the neighbourhood, I determined 
on getting them on the right side of the Tugela, and 
succeeded in swimming them over among the loose 
oxen in safety. The cart was a still more serious busi¬ 
ness. I had selected eight of my best water-oxen, and 
after a long argument with my three lads, and hearing 
