GNU-HUNTING BY NIGHT.
Patiently I waited on, until at last there was no doubt that I could really distinguish the sound for which I had been listening. Raising my head and laying my ear upon a bare place on the ground, I heard the heavy thud of a herd of gnus tramping along a game-track. Full of expectation I crouched down again. When next I looked up, I was aware of the lightning in the north being much more vivid than before. Soon I was able to hear the grunting of the approaching herd, and had not long to wait before I made out one of the gnus on the opposite side of the pool; it came along the water’s edge some way towards me, then turning round, it retreated a little distance, returning almost directly, accompanied by several others. They all stood for a considerable time without moving, but the leader, followed by another of the herd, at length began cautiously to descend to the sandy shore. As the creature stood directly in front of me, it was so foreshortened that I could see nothing of it but its head. As well as the darkness would permit I took my aim straight at the skull, and fired; the crack of the rifle was followed by a distinct crash of the bullet, and I was sure I had hit my mark; without paying any attention to the rest of the herd, I rushed out to secure my victim; but my search was all in vain; I groped about with my gun-barrel, but to no purpose; I was so certain that I had struck the creature that I was quite bewildered at its escape, and should have persevered long in looking for it if the increasing vividness of the lightning had not warned me of the impending storm, and induced me to return.
On arriving at the waggon, I was disconcerted at finding that Boly, who had set out with me, had not come back, and supposing that he had missed his way, I sent F. some distance up the slope with a lighted firebrand, hoping that it might serve to guide him in the right direction; but although the beacon was brandished until the great rain-drops fell and extinguished it, there was nothing to be ascertained about Boly. The wind had now risen to a hurricane, and brought upon us a most furious storm. Although our position in the hollow had the advantage of sheltering us in some degree from the violence of the tempest, it had the disadvantage of receiving all the torrents that rushed down from the flats above, and we were rendered wretchedly uncomfortable by the in-pouring flood. However, it was not so much the discomfort we endured as the anxiety about our missing companion that engrossed our minds; we felt so perplexed and baffled that we could talk and think of nothing else, and yet we were powerless to aid him. The storm was increasing, flash following on flash, and thunder-clap rolling after thunder-clap, and the rain beat so heavily upon the waggon-tilt that it was only by shouting at the top of our voices that we could make each other hear. The temperature, which all day had been very high, became suddenly checked, and a cold chill made us shiver again in our damp clothes.
The storm lasted for hours, and by the time that the wind abated, and the rain ceased, we were all very fatigued. It was indispensable that we should have a little repose, but we hardly allowed ourselves a couple of hours’ rest before we were ready, by daybreak, to make what search we could for our missing friend. I sent one of the servants in the likeliest direction, and he had not gone many hundred yards, when he fell in with Boly making his way towards the waggon. He was covered with dirt from head to foot, and was as pitiable-looking an object as could be imagined; but although he was trembling with cold, and begrimed with mud, he was carrying a gun as bright as when he had started. He had not much to tell; in order to avoid the fury of the storm he had crept into a hole by the side of an ant-hill, where he had made the best of things all night through, but in order to keep his gun clean and ready for all emergencies, he had wrapped it in his jacket, which he had taken off for the purpose.
On the morning of the 29th I took a stroll, and brought back a hyæna-skull; this was placed along with some skulls of gnus, blessbocks, and springbocks that we had collected already since we had made our sojourn here.
At mid-day we started again, going to the eastward with the object of getting into the road leading from Taung to Molema’s Town, whence I should proceed again to the north. After going about six miles we rested in a mimosa grove, where we fell in with some Barolongs. We passed a great number of deserted huts, round which the bones of animals were heaped in piles; to account for such an accumulation the slaughter must have been prodigious. Curious in the matter of pathological deformities, I turned the heaps over, but found the bones nearly all broken; the horns were perfect with the exception of two which had been pierced by bullets, the wounds having healed and a fresh horny substance having formed in the apertures. I likewise found a pointed piece of horn, pierced with holes and attached to a thong, used by the natives for dressing leather.
DESERTED HUNTING-PLACE OF THE BAROLONGS.
When it grew dark we pitched our camp under some acacias on a hill near a salt lake, which was itself quite dry, but had some fresh water-springs on the bank supplying what we required for drinking. Wandering about, I found some more empty huts, and some more collections of bones. Observing that there were plenty of hares, guinea-fowl, partridges, and duykerbocks about, I made up my mind to remain in the place for a whole day, and had every reason to be satisfied with my decision, for the weather was lovely, and the sport so successful that by the next evening my scientific collection was richer by a variety of bird-skins, snakes, insects, and crustaceans, as well as by a considerable number of plants. The rest of the party brought me back from their excursion some interesting birds, chiefly bee-eaters, black and small grey shrikes, and plovers.
