127 
of pursuing them, if requisite, to the world’s end—my heart thumping like a sledge hammer, I dashed down the slope, fol- 
— lowed by the derision of all the Hottentots for my unsportsman-like desertion of the trail of «a wounded olifant, in favour of 
a lelyk, or ugly, buck, one specimen of which, I assured them in reply, I would rather possess than all the ivory in Africa! 
In an instant I was in the middle ‘’ the herd, which was then crossing the valley, All had scimitar-shaped horns— nine 
chesnut coloured does leading, and two superb coal-black and tan bucks, whose sable coats vied in depth with the team of a 
hearse, bringing up the rear in Indian file, with all the pomposity and self-importance of village billy-goats, to which, although 
song five times superior in stature, they appear to bear considerable resemblance in general contour. Dismounting, and draw- 
ing the bridle over my horse’s head, I was delighted to observe the funeral procession stand for a few seconds within fifty 
yards, and as if unable to account for so sudden an intrusion, stare at me with amazement. No opportunity could have been 
¢- 
more favourable, and properly equipped, I must haye secured a brace at least; but in vain was it that 1 pulled the trigger of 
my clumsy artillery at the fellow who dared the finest head. Three several times did the heayy machinery of the lock 
deseend with alarming vehemence, but no report following the clattering concussion; and the herd haying in the mean time 
taken the hint, and clambered up the face of a steep Wu, I fairly rode my horse to a stand, in a desperate, but hopeless, 
attempt to overtake them. Cursing my Ward fate as I dashed the treacherous weapon to the ground, | planted a stick at 
the last spoor left by the troop, as it disappeared over the stony brow, and hastening to the waggons, devoted half an hour 
to the splicing of my broken rifle—being armed with which, and mounted upon my freshest steed, I returned with my com- 
panion to the scene of discomfiture. Taking up the foot-marks, we followed them among the hills with unwearied perseve- 
rance during the residue of that luckless day — the shadows shifting, the sun setting, and night finally casting her murky 
mantle around us, without our having retrieved the object of our search, Being still within reach of the camp, we marked 
the spot where the tracks had been relinquished, and returned home with the determination of resuming them on the morrow 
—the near view I had obtained of the magnificent quarry having, if possible, strengthened my previously formed “resolution 
never to relinquish the pursuit until I had succeeded. ro 
Searcely one wink did I sleep during the whole of that tedious night. Visions of strange unearthly looking beasts, as 
inconstant in their exterior as the changeable cameleon, appeared in quick succession during my broken dozings, but uniformly 
yanished upon pursuit like the ignis fatwus. Alone and bewildered in the bosom of pathless mountains, I found myself at one 
moment wandering up and down, seeking vainly to recover the lost track of some double headed monster disguised in widow's 
weeds, that like an eel had slipped through my fingers when I fancied I was most sure of him; at the next I was straining every 
rauscle in an abortive attempt to draw the unyielding trigger of an obstinate blunderbuss—the giant hobgoblin at whose carcase 
the tube was levelled, waxing momentarily larger, and blacker, and more shaggy, until, presuming upon the harmless nature 
of my rebellious weapon,— which, when it at last exploded spontaneously, proved to have been loutlad Wwithoat a bullet — he 
finally strutted up like a great bully, and kicked me over a precipice into the yawning abyss below. Then came a sudden 
start to terminate my unpleasant bumping, and behold! it was a dream, At length the irksome shadows of night beginning to 
- pa . —— "Ere yet the morning peep ry 
> 
Or stars retire from the firet blush of day,” 
our eager feet are again in the stirrup. Resuming the tracks the moment it was light enough to read the ground whereon 
we trode, again did we carry them during the live-long day over hills and through valleys — now casting about at fault, now 
hurrying on upon the hot trail—but still without obtaining so much even as a distant glimpse of the genf for which we panted. 
More than once we came upon the spot where, under the shade of some projecting crag, the roaming herd had sojourned for 
an hour during the heat of the day; and the foot-prints became then so fresh that they were for a time abandoned, and a 
» cast made a-head in the hope of viewing the quarry in the very next valley. All other game, how much coveted soever under 
ordinary circumstances, was suffered to pass unheeded. Sometimes a solitary bull Koodoo, carrying a noble head, would lay 
his corkscrew horns along his grey shoulders, burst. through the brake, and bring our hearts into our mouths; yet was he per- 
mitted to proceed unmolested. Repeatedly, too, the spoor had been crossed either by a Water-Buck, or by a Roan Antelope, 
both of which animals were observed in unusual abundance —their slot so closely resembling that of the new species, that 
“sa 8 much valuable time was invariably lost in deciding which was the true one—the Matabili, who had not been present when the 
5 herd was first viewed, cunningly availing themselves of each check to assure me that the chase was no other than Htak* 
hopiug that I might be thus tempted to discontinue the ta them wearisome pursuit. But the day had ended before it would 
appear to me to have commenced ; and this second night closing when we were far from the encampment, we lighted a fire, 
and made ourselves snug under a projecting ledge of rock near the summit of a spur from the great range. ” 
During the early part of the night there was no moon, but the stars shone out in brightness and beauty upon 4 dark 
blie sky, whilst the nocturnal sounds peculiar to such savage solitudes were ever and anon wafted to our ears. The wind as 
it moaned dismally by in fitful gusts, sounded at times like the measured tramp of a hundred elephants marching across the 
until the startling who-oop of the fetid hyena, or the discordant bayimg of a 
opposite hill; then all was silent as the tomb, 
troop of hungry jackals, burst from, the gloom like spirit-warnings from the past. Again the stealthy foot-fall of some carni- 
verous prowler might. be heard approaching the spot on which we lay, and once more all would become hushed at the inddis- 
* The Roan Antelope- 
