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tinct and lurid gleam cast upon the surrounding bushes by our watch-fire, as we heaped on the dry wood. At length 
“Like a queen came forth the lovely moon 
From the slow opening curtain of the clouda, 
Walking im beauty to her midnight throne ;” 
and after a sound sleep of some hours, “ the bright morning star, day's harbinger,” shooting above the dark brow of the 
mountain range to the eastward, was speedily followed by the white glimmering of dawn. Seizing our rifles we at once quitted 
this lone bivonac, and descending towards the valley, passed over one of our battle-fields, whereon lay the mortal remains of 
three huge elephants and a rhinoceros, whose white bones, bleached by the sun and shower, showed in the twilight, through 
the black, shroud-like shrivelled skin, by which the skeletons were partially enveloped. Once more the sun has risen, bnt the 
air is still misty and chill. Again he touches each mountain peak successively with fiery light, whilst the lower range, 
including the deep valleys at its foot, are yet shadowy and mndefined. Every minute now produces a change in the faee of 
the landscape, and every change is more beautiful than the last. To the westward alone, all is veiled under cloud, which 
the eye vainly attempts to penetrate, unless when partial openings in the sweeping curtain afford glimpses of cliff or forest, 
whose rainbow hues, sunny and soft, are scarcely more substantial than the gauze-like vapour which is again closing its fleecy 
folds around them. As the red orb mounts upwards, these mists bow before his power, still however lingering abont the 
craggy summits as though reluctant to qnit their old resting place, until, curling up one by one into the calm blue sky, they 
gradually melt away into thin air. And now the last wreath has disappeared, and we are looking forth upon a boundless and 
savage expanse of grey mountains and ravines, far below which the sinuous course of the river can be traced by the bordering 
of trees that shelter and conceal it. ° ; 
Towards noon of this, the third day, the hoof-marks of the herd denoted its having divided into packs, an it became 
evident that we were fast closing with the fugitives. Following upon the largest track, and peeping cautiously over a rocky emi- 
nence, our laudable assiduity was in half an hour more rewarded by the gratifying sight of the two bucks, clad in their “ blacke 
attpre,” like the chief mourner at a funeral, and grazing by themselyes, quite unconscious of our approach, in a stony valley 
some five or six hundred yards in advance! [ was the first to make the discovery, and my sensations, as I quickly withdrew 
my head to whisper to my companion, “ There they stand,” were positively sickening—for although at last fortunately found, the 
quarrie had yet to be secured. Fresh caps were instantly applied to our own rifles, while the Hottentots renewed their damp 
priming, and wiped their clumsy gunflints. One moment's consultation sufficed so to dispose our forces, as to afford the best 
chanee of intercepting the game from a tangled labyrinth of ravines which terminated in an impenetrable defile, A simultaneous 
equestrian attack from different quarters was then directed against the handsomer of the two, the order being given 
> 
“Whoever meets him, shoot hini dead, 
Fiye hundred nobles an his head.’ 
Bang, bang, bang,— went the rifles, and in an instant, with one hind leg dangling from the hip, the cripple had dashed into a 
scrub of flowering proteas, above the gay blossoms of which his sweeping horns alone were visible, Pressing him on horseback 
through the copse, he broke a a few yards of me, when another shot through his body laid him sprawling on his black side. 
Quickly recovering himself, however, he was again on his feet, and before any one had reloaded, was making the best of his way 
towards the defile at the neck of the valley. Aware that if he once gained this covert, he was lost to me and my heirs for 
ever — without waiting to drive the bullets down my rifle, I sprang into the saddle, and exhorting Andries to follow upon the 
mare instead of stoppifg to reload, crammed in the rowels, and dashed after the fugitive. I have before remarked, that the 
genus Antilope should have been created with three instead of four legs, inasmuch as they invariably appear to run faster upou 
the odd, than upon the even number; and here was indeed a case in point. Although upon the first discovery of the herd 
on the morning of the 13th, | had made my way into the middle of them almost without an effort, it was now with 
the utmost difficulty that I could even preserve my place. Swinging his tasseled tail from side to side without one symp- 
tom of distress, and squinting at me occasionally over his swarthy shoulder, as if to say, “Pray catch me if you can,” the 
wounded quarry rattled gallantly along over broken ground, beset with buffalo-holes, and strewed with pointed stones. Fast 
gaining the jungle, he appeared to be gaining heart also, as each stride brought him nearer and nearer to his citadel: but at 
the termination of a mile, when close at home, a yawning nullah arresting his career, he was compelled to swerve. During 
the progress of the chase to this point, my sorel galloway had twice kissed the ground, but twice cleverly recovered himself, 
after I had laid my account for a severe fall. Clearing the obstacle now presented at a bound, he brought me well on the 
quarter of the prize, which, little inferior to himself in stature, faced instantly about, lowered his great horns, aud charged. 
Ramming down the balls as I retreated, I presently approached again. Again he tilted at me, and receiving both shots through 
the shoulder, was overthrown and slain! 
Vain were it to attempt a description of my sensation, when thus, after three days of toilsome tracking and feverish 
anxiety, unalleviated by almost any incident that could inspire confidence, or even hope of ultimate suecess, I at length found 
myself actually standing over the prostrate carcase of so brilliant an addition to the catalogue of game quadrupeds— so 
bright a jewel amid the riches of Zoology! Turning it over and over, I thonght I could never have seanned the prize suffi- 
ciently, and my companion, after long feasting his eyes in silence, exclaimed, that “the sable antelope, qwould doubtless be- 
come the admiration of the world!” A minute description was written with its own red blood, and a portrait having been 
