ir owner. The distance between the latter and
the pursuing hound increases.

Along a high ridge overlooking this primitive chase grow, at regular
intervals, several circular clumps of bush. One of these conceals a
spectator. The latter is seated on horseback in the very midst of the
scrub, his feet dangling loosely in the stirrups, his hand closed
tightly and rather suggestively round the breech of a double gun--rifle
and smooth bore--which rests across the pommel of his saddle. There is
a frown upon his face, as, himself completely hidden, he watches
intently the progress of the sport. It is evident that he is more
interested than pleased.

For Tom Carhayes is the owner of this Kaffrarian stock run. In that
part of Kaffraria, game is exceedingly scarce, owing to the presence of
a redundant native population. Tom Carhayes is an ardent sportsman and
spares no effort to protect and restore the game upon his farm. Yet
here is a Kafir running down a buck under his very nose. Small wonder
that he feels furious.

"That scoundrel Goniwe!" he mutters between his set teeth. "I'll put a
bullet through his cur, and lick the nigger himself within an inch of
his life!"

The offence is an aggravated one. Not only is the act of poaching a
very capital crime in his eyes, but the perpetrator ought to be at that
moment at least three miles away, herding about eleven hundred of his
master's sheep. These he has left to take care of themselves while he
indulges in an illicit buck-hunt. Small wonder indeed that his said
master, at no time a good-tempered man, vows to make a condign example
of him.

The buck has nearly gained the crest of the ridge. Once over it his
chances are good. The pursuing hound, running more by sight than by
scent, may easily be foiled, by a sudden turn to right or left, and a
double or two. The dog is a long way behind now, and the spectator has
to rise in his stirrups to command a view of the situation. Fifty yards
more and the quarry will be over the ridge and in comparative safety.

But from just that distance above there suddenly darts forth another
dog--a white one. It has sprung from a patch of bush similar to that
which conceals the spectator. The buck, thoroughly demoralised by the
advent of this new enemy, executes a rapid double, and thus pressed back
into the very jaws of its first pursuer has no alternative but to head
up the valley as fast as its legs can carry it.

But the ne