ed
desperately, and could scarcely move. There were little round hard
tufts of grass in places, that afforded him a slight footing; I
therefore dismounted, and, by shouting and lifting with the bridle,
managed to get him across the score of yards, the breadth of this horrid
place. This struggle took a good deal out of him, and he was none of
the freshest when I remounted and followed the elands, which I saw
steadily trotting along a mile in advance. My horse seemed to gather
strength at every stride, and by keeping him well together I hoped soon
to be able to make a push and overhaul them. Two or three graceful
ourebis jumped up, and flew across the plain in front of me; their
beautiful movements, and frequent springs of several feet in the air,
looking most interesting by the contrast which the white and fawn robes
of these antelopes produced with the satiny green of the plain.

I at length closed with the elands, and turned a bull from the herd. I
rode behind, and obliged him to keep at a gallop, as this pace was more
distressing to him than the trot. Seeing another muddy place a short
distance in front, I pulled up, and as the bull was floundering through
it, I gave him the contents of both barrels in the stern. He did not
fall, although I could see that he was very badly wounded. I managed to
get over this difficulty with greater ease than the first, as the mud
was not so deep, and commenced loading as I rode. Upon taking out my
bullets, I discovered that they were for my broken-stocked gun, the bore
of which was nearly two sizes larger than the one I now had with me; and
this difference I had forgotten in my hurry of changing. I thought that
if I rode steadily after the eland, his wounds would soon cause him to
fall. I tried this plan, but at the end of two miles saw but little
prospect of a successful termination. I then put the bullet in my
mouth, and kept biting it to reduce its size; at last I managed just to
put it into the barrel; but when there, I could not persuade it to move
farther.

I could see no probability of my heavy sixteen stone friend coming, so I
dismounted, and with the aid of a flint on the ramrod hammered the
bullet down about half-way,--farther, however, it seemed determined not
to go. I tried without success until the skin came off the inside of my
fingers.

The eland had trotted down to some water, that flowed from a rocky
ravine near, and formed a sort of court or semicircl