In another moment the bird was fluttering at the end of the bamboo; and Jan, without dismounting, pulled the creature in that way up to the wagons, and held it there with an air of triumph that left Klaas without a word to say for the “balance” of that evening.
Chapter Forty Nine.
Groot Willem and the Python.
Groot Willem awoke from his nap before the others. It still wanted nearly two hours of sunset, and the hunter, observing a reddish object at a distance that looked like some animal, shouldered his roer and proceeded towards it. He took with him one of the buck-dogs, a well-trained and favourite hound, that usually accompanied him—even on a stalking expedition.
The red object which he had seen was near the edge of the valley, and at the bottom of a rocky precipice that bounded it upon that side. There were some trees growing along by the foot of the cliff, and the hunter calculated on being able to get a shot at the animal, whatever it was, from behind the cover of these trees. He continued on up the valley, and at length got near enough to tell what he was stalking at.
It was a small antelope, just about the size of the klipspringer, and with little erect horns four inches in length. In colour, however, it was unlike the latter. The upper parts of its body were a deep red, and underneath white, while its snout and face were black. The little creature was higher at the croup than at the withers, and entirely without a tail, or with a tail only one inch long, that had more the appearance of a stump.
Groot Willem, when he came nigh, recognised this antelope to be the steenbok, for he had met with it before, as it is common throughout the colony, inhabiting high lying grounds where there are bushes. It is one of those classed under the genus Tragulus, of which three other species—all small antelopes—are met with in South Africa. The other three are the “grysbok,” (Tragulus melanotis), the “vlackte steenbok,” (T. rufescens), and the “bleekbok;” (T. pediotragus); though some naturalists assert that the last are only varieties of the steenbok, (T. rupestris). Groot Willem did not spend a thought upon these matters, he only thought of “stalking” the steenbok, and having its ribs for a roast at supper. He was able to approach it without any difficulty, as it was close to the bushes, and appeared not to be very shy.
There was but the creature itself—a little buck; and rarely is more than one, or at most two of these antelopes seen together—for the steenbok, and all the others of the genus Tragulus, are monogamous and solitary.