There could be no objection to try the thing over again, according to the mode suggested by Groot Willem; and they all assented to his proposal. It was plain that the blesboks ran in the “wind’s eye,” else they never would have “run the gauntlet” against Klaas and Jan, as they had done. Such being the case, the hunters, by laying in wait to windward, would have a decided advantage, and, properly placed, could not fail to reach some of the advancing herd.
Should the scheme turn out differently, then they could follow Hendrik’s advice, and ride tail-on-end upon the blesboks.
With these ideas, the four galloped away to one side, and, making a wide détour, headed the game. Klaas and Jan were left in the rear to follow it up, and force it gently forward.
In good time the stand-men were again placed, and watched the advancing antelopes with interest. The “blaze” upon their faces appeared larger and larger, and their broad, white muzzles gleamed in the eyes of the hunters, almost within range of their guns. But at this moment, the animals raised their graceful necks, uttered a strange, snorting cry, and then, instead of turning to fly back, bounded right forward!
Surely they were coming within range, thought every one, as he knelt with ready firelock behind his sheltering mound. “Good!” muttered Groot Willem to himself. “I’ll turn the laugh upon the whole of them—that I shall.”
But Groot Willem was destined once more to a humiliating disappointment. As the blesboks came under the lee of each hill that covered a hunter, they suddenly swerved, and swept round him at such a distance as to render shooting at them a perfectly ridiculous thing. Groot Willem had levelled his roer for a chance shot, when he thought of the unpleasant consequences of a “miss;” and reluctantly bringing down his piece he permitted the blesboks to sweep past.
In a few seconds the herd was far beyond the place where they had passed the hunters; but as no assault had been made upon them, and no gun fired, they quieted down after a while, and once more commenced browsing.
Hendrik was now the proud man of the hour. He would show them how the slow creatures could be galloped into. He would run half-a-dozen of them down before they could clear out of the plain.
“Come on!”
All once again mounted their horses, and rode briskly towards the herd. When near, they moved more slowly and quietly, so as not to startle them.