Close behind the stranger, on another horse that looked equally as good, sat his Hottentot after-rider, who also carried a heavy rifle in his hands.
The hunter's face wore a good-natured smile, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye. He evidently enjoyed Oscar's surprise.
"Who are you?" continued the boy.
"Seeing that you have had the impudence to bag my game, I think that is a proper question for me to ask," was the reply.
"I beg your pardon, sir," said Oscar, who had by this time fully recovered himself. "I supposed this gnu had been started by my own dogs. I didn't know that there was another white person within two days' journey of this place."
"Gnu!" repeated the stranger. "I haven't heard that word before in years. You are not English?"
"No, sir. I am an American."
"Ah, indeed!" exclaimed the hunter, now astonished in his turn. "And what in the world are you doing out here, so far from home, may I ask?"
"I came here to procure specimens of natural history for a university museum," answered Oscar.
He expected that the hunter would be surprised, and he certainly was. Everybody was surprised when the boy told what his business was. Probably no one of his years had ever been engaged in such an undertaking before.