On swept the blesboks over the level sward and on galloped Hendrik after
them--his horse and dogs running at their utmost speed. For all that,
not a yard could either hunter or hounds gain upon the swift antelopes.
There was no chance for either to "run cunning." There was no taking "a
cut" upon the game. The blesboks made not the slightest double--swerved
not a point from their course, but ran in a straight line, dead in the
wind's eye. No advantage, therefore, was given by the pursued, or could
be taken by the pursuers. It was a simple question of speed between
horse, dogs, and game.
The dogs gave up first. They broke down one after another, until only
Hendrik's favourite hound kept near. Another mile's running, and he too
was used up, and fell to the rear; and now Hendrik galloped alone.
For nearly ten miles he galloped, until the sweat streamed from his
horse's flanks, and the froth from his lips, and still the blesboks
scoured on before him at too great a distance to be reached by his
rifle. On a fresh horse he could easily have overtaken them now, for
they ran but slowly. Perhaps he could have closed upon them as it was,
but, with all his desire to do so, he was compelled to ride with
caution. The burrows of the ant-eater lay in his path, and once or
twice, as he was closing upon the game with good prospect of getting
near, his horse had stumbled, and lost ground again. This gave the
antelopes a decided advantage, as with light hoof they skimmed over
these impediments without fear.
And still Hendrik was reluctant to pull up. He thought of the empty
boasting he had made. He thought of the scornful laugh that would greet
him on his return. He thought of Groot Willem!
If he could only take back one hide--one pair of horns--all would be
well. The laugh would be his. With such thoughts he had been urged
forward, in this long and desperate ride.
He began to despair of success. The blesboks seemed to run lightly as
ever, while his horse sprang heavily under him. The noble brute must
soon give up.
Hendrik at length felt for him, and would have drawn bridle; but while
half-resolved to do so, he noticed a range of mountains directly in
front of him. They appeared to extend across the plain transversely to
his course, or rather two chains met in a sort of angle, quite closing
up the plain in that direction. Towards this angle the blesboks were
directing their course!
Did they propose taking to the mountain? was the question put by Hendrik
to himself. If so, he might find an advantage there. They might come
to a stop, and under cover of the rocks and bushes that grew upon the
mountain-side, he might be able yet to stalk them.
As Hendrik reflected thus, his eyes wandered along the base of both
ranges from the angle where they met to a good distance on each side.
To his surprise he perceived that the bases of both ended in a
precipitous cliff, with no apparent pass leading up! He was now close
enough to see the cliff. Not a break appeared along its whole line!
Hendrik was gratified with this discovery. He was driving the game into
an angle, a very _trap_. They would be compelled to turn upon him, and
out of such a thick mass, he could not fail to knock over one. One was
all he wanted.
His hopes returned, inspiring him with new vigour; and, uttering a word
of encouragement to his horse, he pushed forward.
His ride did not last much longer. Another mile, and it was over.
He had got within five hundred yards of the mountain foot, and less than
half that distance from the bucks that still continued to run straight
toward the angle of the cliffs. He was now quite sure of a shot. In
less than a minute, the herd would be compelled either to stop, or turn
back, and meet him in the teeth.
It was time to get his rifle in readiness; and as he intended to fire
into the thick mass, he took several small bullets from his pouch, and
hastily dropped them into the barrel. He then looked to his
percussion-cap, to make sure that all was right. It was so. The copper
was properly adjusted on the nipple.
He cocked his gun, and once more looked forward to the game. _Not an
antelope was in sight_!
Where were they? Had they sprung up the mountain? Impossible! The
precipice could not be scaled? Impossible! Even had they done so, they
would still have been seen upon the mountain face. They were not in
sight, not one of them! The hunter reined up, his gun dropped back to
the withers of his horse, his jaws fell, and for some moments he sat
with parted lips, and eyes glaring in wonderment.
Had he been of a superstitious nature, he might have been troubled with
some painful feelings at that moment. But he was not superstitious.
Although for a moment or two he could not feel otherwise than astonished
at it, he knew there was some natural cause for the "sudden and
mysterious disappearance" of the bucks.
He did not pause long in doubt, but proceeded at once to the proper
quarter for an explanation. The tracks of the herd guided him to that,
and after riding three hundred yards further, the mystery was explained
to his full and complete satisfaction.
The angle, after all, was not an angle, for the apex was wanting. There
_was_ a "thoroughfare" without the slightest obstruction. Although at a
short distance the converging cliffs appeared to impinge upon each
other, there was an opening between them--a narrow pass that like an
isthmus connected the plain over which the chase had gone, with another
and very similar one that stretched away on the other side of the
mountains. The blesboks must have known it well enough, else they would
not have run so direct for the false angle in the cliffs. Hendrik
trotted up the pass to convince himself that it was no _cul-de-sac_.
After going a few hundred yards, the isthmus widened again, and he saw
to his chagrin the violet backs of the bucks far off upon the plain that
stretched beyond.
Overcome with disappointment and chagrin, he flung himself from his
saddle, and staggering a few paces, sat down upon a boulder of rock. He
did not even stop to fasten his horse, but, dropping the bridle over his
neck, left the froth-covered and panting steed to himself.