The cold air, just before daybreak, penetrating my blanket, awakened me,
and I heard the Dutchmen and Hottentots conversing near, and was soon up
and enjoying a cup of steaming hot coffee, with some beef and biscuit.
The morning sun was just showing its rays above the horizon, and the
fogs were rising up the mountains, when we were once more in the saddle.
When we had ridden for nearly an hour, we suddenly saw, in a valley
beneath us, an enormous herd of elands: they were scattered about
grazing like cattle. The Boers' plans were immediately taken, and it
was arranged that some of the party should ride at a distance, keeping
out of sight, and show themselves on the opposite side, so as to drive
the herd towards the waggons.
Some of the party managed this business, while I and two of the Boers
waited under the hill until the elands should come past us.
After waiting some time, we could see the look-out eland get the alarm;
he twisted round, swung his tail about, and trotted down to the main
body, who soon left off feeding, collected together, and started off in
their long trot, advancing in our direction. I admired the Boers'
arrangements,--everything was so ably planned. Suddenly the leading
bulls of the herd seemed to smell danger in our neighbourhood, and
swerved to the right; I was afraid they were getting away from us, but
Kemp, who was by me, restrained my impatience, and told me to wait.
Soon after the elands had turned, a man on horseback was seen to canter
over the hill that they appeared steering for; he pulled up, took off
his hat and waved it, and fired a shot; he was too far off to have done
much damage by the shot, but the ruse was immediately successful,--the
whole herd wheeled suddenly into their old line, and came thundering
along towards us. I looked at my caps to see if all was right, and
rammed the bullets down tight; such a herd of game were coming on, at
least two hundred of them, bulls and cows, with quite young calves.
The leaders were soon in line with us. I picked out a large fat
blue-looking bull, which I saw fall dead at the shot. Most of the
others, as they heard the whistle of the bullet, made prodigious leaps
in the air, the effect of which was extraordinary, as, from their great
size and apparent unwieldiness, these bounds seemed almost impossible.
With the second barrel I pinked another bull, but he did not fall.
These shots caused the elands to gallop on very fast; we mounted our
horses and started after the herd, a second eland having been dropped by
one of the Dutchmen, while a third was soon seen to leave the main body
and stay behind, evidently in difficulties. I could not load very well
while going at full speed, so reduced my pace a little to accomplish it.
I had scarcely completed the operation, when my horse came down on his
head with a crash, and rolled over, flinging me far from him. I came
down on my hands and shoulder, and fortunately was not hurt. Upon
getting up, I found, to my disgust, that I had broken the stock of my
gun: the trigger-guard alone held it together. I also saw that a large
jackal's or ant-bear's hole, that was concealed by the long grass, was
the cause of my horse's mistake. There was no remedy but to ride to the
waggons for my second gun: they were not very far distant, and nearly on
the line that the elands had just taken.
I started off without loss of time, and arrived a few minutes after the
herd had passed. They had been viewed from the waggons, and I was told
that many were badly wounded, and that five of the Dutchmen were well
up, and were, as the Kaffirs in delight said, _barnie bulalu_ (much
shooting) the elands: the Kaffirs were anticipating a regular cram that
night. I stayed only sufficiently long to procure my sound gun, and
started in pursuit of the Boers. I was much annoyed at being thus cut
out of so fine a chance, and to make up my distance, I let my game
little nag go his best over the springy turf that, like rolling waves,
lay around. I suddenly noticed some animals nearly a mile distant that
looked extremely like elands, and therefore I turned in their direction,
which was nearly opposite to that which I had first pursued.
As I approached them, I made out a couple of bulls and four cow elands,
with five or six half-grown calves. They went away as soon as they
noticed me, and crossed a little muddy hollow, that seemed soft enough
to hold them fast; they got over, however, but sunk to their bellies in
the attempt, and came out on the other side with black mud-stockings. I
knew that their instinct had shown them the best place for a crossing,
and that if I tried at any other, I might get pounded completely; I
therefore went down to the spot, and tried my horse at it. He would not
stir a step into the bog, but smelt at it in a suspicious manner: spurs
and whip had no effect on him, he would not face it.
An English officer who happened to have joined our party, and who
weighed upwards of sixteen stone, was now approaching at a canter: he
had lost the main body of elands, and was coming after my lot.
I saw that the quiet plan was no good with my nervous brute, so, turning
him round, I gave him a little canter, and brought him down again to the
muddy crossing with a rush. When he found what I purposed, he tried to
refuse; but I let drop both spurs into his flank with a vigorous dig,
and at the same time plied the _sjambok_ behind with such good effect,
that he floundered into the bog, sinking to the girths. He struggled
desperately, and could scarcely move. There were little round hard
tufts of grass in places, that afforded him a slight footing; I
therefore dismounted, and, by shouting and lifting with the bridle,
managed to get him across the score of yards, the breadth of this horrid
place. This struggle took a good deal out of him, and he was none of
the freshest when I remounted and followed the elands, which I saw
steadily trotting along a mile in advance. My horse seemed to gather
strength at every stride, and by keeping him well together I hoped soon
to be able to make a push and overhaul them. Two or three graceful
ourebis jumped up, and flew across the plain in front of me; their
beautiful movements, and frequent springs of several feet in the air,
looking most interesting by the contrast which the white and fawn robes
of these antelopes produced with the satiny green of the plain.
I at length closed with the elands, and turned a bull from the herd. I
rode behind, and obliged him to keep at a gallop, as this pace was more
distressing to him than the trot. Seeing another muddy place a short
distance in front, I pulled up, and as the bull was floundering through
it, I gave him the contents of both barrels in the stern. He did not
fall, although I could see that he was very badly wounded. I managed to
get over this difficulty with greater ease than the first, as the mud
was not so deep, and commenced loading as I rode. Upon taking out my
bullets, I discovered that they were for my broken-stocked gun, the bore
of which was nearly two sizes larger than the one I now had with me; and
this difference I had forgotten in my hurry of changing. I thought that
if I rode steadily after the eland, his wounds would soon cause him to
fall. I tried this plan, but at the end of two miles saw but little
prospect of a successful termination. I then put the bullet in my
mouth, and kept biting it to reduce its size; at last I managed just to
put it into the barrel; but when there, I could not persuade it to move
farther.
I could see no probability of my heavy sixteen stone friend coming, so I
dismounted, and with the aid of a flint on the ramrod hammered the
bullet down about half-way,--farther, however, it seemed determined not
to go. I tried without success until the skin came off the inside of my
fingers.
The eland had trotted down to some water, that flowed from a rocky
ravine near, and formed a sort of court or semicircle, the back of which
was high, and like a stone wall. He stood in the water, and as I
approached could not retreat, as he was in a sort of _cul de sac_, and
did not like coming past me. I left my horse, and came within forty
yards of the antelope, to prevent his getting away, and had another try
at my obstinate bullet. I could not get a move out of it, and therefore
felt inclined to go in at the bull with my long clasp-knife; but a
threatening kind of pawing, and a shake of the head, when I came near,
made me think it more prudent "to keep off."
I now remembered a Dutchman's plan for a "sticks bullet" as they call
it; viz., dropping a little water in the barrel. I went to the stream
and let a few drops trickle down on the bullet. I soon found the good
result, for the ball began to move, and at each blow from the ramrod
went lower and lower, until the clear ring and springing of the ramrod
at length showed it to be home. I then laid my impatient prisoner low
with a shot behind the shoulder; he was a fine young bull about fifteen
hands in height. I off-saddled and sat down near him, as I was not
inclined to follow the remainder of the herd, both horse and self having
done our work. After about half an hour, my heavy friend showed on the
hill-top, and came galloping down and shouting to know where the elands
had gone, with as much eagerness as though he had been but half a mile
instead of half an hour behind. I accounted for one out of the lot,
which he helped me to skin and decapitate (a proceeding that we did not
accomplish before sunset), and we conveyed the head with difficulty to
our outspanning-place for the night. We were welcomed by the Dutchmen,
in whose estimation I found myself considerably advanced. They could
not, however, imagine for what reason I had brought the head and horns,
and I found great difficulty in making them comprehend that they were
considered as ornaments in England and were also rarities. They
inquired if we had no elands in that land, and seemed to think it a very
poor place where no large game was to be found.
I tried to explain to them the glories of a good run with hounds across
a grass country sprinkled with pretty stiff fences, but they could not
realise its beauties. And when I told them that foxes were preserved
merely for the sake of being hunted, they actually roared with laughter,
and assured me that they could not live or breathe in a country so
destitute of game, or be happy or feel free unless they knew that at
least one hundred miles of open country were around them, about which
they might ride, shoot, or live, just as they liked.
I explained to them the manner in which England was cut up by roads, and
that no one was allowed to go out of these roads and ride over the
country just as he might like; and that if he did by chance do so, he
would probably be prosecuted for a trespass. In order to prevent any
such contingency, I told them boards were always stuck up near any
pretty wood or nice places, marked in large letters, "Trespassers
beware," or, "Any person found on these grounds will be prosecuted."
This relation made them almost furious, and they allowed their spleen to
effervesce in several anathemas against the "Verdamt Englishmensch."
I have generally found that the want of a pillow is the greatest
discomfort in sleeping on the ground; all persons who run the risk of
passing a night out of their beds, should provide themselves with an
air-cushion, for it can be filled when required, and be packed very
neatly in the pocket when not wanted.