CHAP. VIII. 
MY FIRST LION-HUNT. 
47 
started with a single pack-horse and an admirable 
shooting-horse for myself. I could not afford an c after- 
rider,’ but it so happened that my second horse required 
no one to lead him. I bought him at a £ cast sale,’ that 
is, at a sale of cast horses of the Cape Mounted Rifles. 
He was a strong, podgy little horse, of good breed, 
called Pompey. He had been for many years the 
£ orderly’s horse ’ to our colonel, and was accustomed to 
keep orderly’s distance in the rear, or about thirty yards 
from the colonel; and this had become so much his 
habit, that go where I would, and at any pace, there 
was my pack-horse always behind me. The difficulty 
was to carry all I wanted in the way of ammunition 
and an extra gun, with one spare horse. However, I 
had to do it, and started from Graham’s Town via Fort 
Beaufort and the beautiful valley of the Blink Water, 
passing the Didema Mountain and over the great 
Winterberg into the Tarka; thence over the Sneuw 
(snow) Berg to Cradock. This district was at that time 
abounding in game, and I remained for nearly a month 
with old Lieutenant John Crause, one of the old soldiers 
of the Duke of York’s day, who, it is said, got his com¬ 
mission before he was born. 
I was joined at this farm by a nephew of mine host 
named Percy Crause; and after re-fitting he and I started 
for Buffles Vley, just then beyond the borders of the 
colony. 
