22 
THE NEW AFRICA 
one animal dead, as he had heard only a single shot. It was 
only on our nearer approach that he recognised at last that our 
burdens were two separate springbok. 
Later in the day we trekked to where the Nata river enters 
the lake, through fearful mud, that caused the cart to sink up 
to the bed-plank. But our well-trained oxen, pulling together, 
under the experienced direction of the inimitable Franz, never 
wavered for a moment, and drew the concern clean through the 
mud, leaving a broad, glistening track in its wake, where the axle 
had levelled the oozy mass into a greasy, glistening surface. 
At the Nata river—a dry, sandy bed containing pits of water 
—we camped for a couple of days to rest the oxen, and meanwhile 
laid ourselves out to prepare a stock of springbok ‘ biltong ’ for 
use on the further journey, as game was reported by Franz to be 
scarce on ahead. Finding that the game frequented the sandy 
labyrinth-like creeks before mentioned, to sun themselves 
during the heat of the day, I stalked cautiously about from 
promontory to promontory to gain a view of the reaches open 
before me, and succeeded in bagging nine more springbok, who, 
bewildered at the shots, would often charge past in my direction, 
giving me a running broadside shot at short ranges, from the 
long grass on the banks where I lay—a piece of unusual 
luck. One poor brute, whose left foreleg I had broken, gave 
me no end of trouble. The troop to which it belonged was 
already very wary from the repeated shots, generally making off 
at long range as I approached, and the poor wounded animal was 
visible, attempting to buck-jump like the others; each time, 
however, as it landed from the jump, the one sound leg was 
insufficient to support its weight, and it fell clean over on its 
back, turning a half somersault. After a long stalk on hands 
and knees, I got within three hundred yards at last, and, taking 
a long steady sight in sitting posture, heard the bullet klop, and 
on running up found the poor animal put beyond the miseries 
of this world. Later, while I was lying in wait for a troop of 
buck advancing down another creek, suspiciously sniffing the 
air, I saw the grass move nearly opposite to me about sixty 
