CHAPTER XXX.

Inyati! Inyati !—A Lioness-Meat in Profusion-The Boys gorge themselves-More Buffalo-A narrow Escape-A fine Giraffe.

BEFORE We had gone many miles along our new course, the nature of the country changed. The trees gave way to thorns again, and a short crisp grass took the place of the long tufts we had hitherto been walking through.

The boys grew more hopeful,end quickened the pace of their own accord. Soon we came across some very fresh spoor of imparla, going in the same direction as ourselves, and a mile further on we came upon quite a large pool of sweet clear water. After we had plentifully drunk of it, and both horse and boys had as much as they desired, Woodward and I enjoyed a splendid bath, which quite set up our spirits again, and made us feel as fresh and jolly as when we started. While we were bathing, the boys had been carefully examining the damp soil all round, which retained the spoor of every animal that had been to drink, it was in places quite beaten down with numberless marks of game.

Any quantity of imparla, quagga, and blue wilde beeste, and several lions and giraffe, had been about only the previous night; but, much to our dis

appointment, we could not pick out a single buffalo spoor which had been made since the last rains. With so much game about, there was no doubt about getting something before night, and we saw that our pouches were full of cartridges, and rifles all ready, before we again set off. As there could be no difficulty in again hitting off the others who were still following the sloot, I mounted my horse, and with Jacob set off to make a wide détour to the left. The thorns were so thick that I had some difficulty in getting through them; but the boy, unimpeded with clothes, slipped through like an eel. A herd of pigs dashed out of some bushes close to us, but skurried away without giving me a fair chance of a shot.

Very soon afterwards a long line of imparla appeared crossing an open space upon a piece of rising ground to our left. I left I left my horse where we were, and with Jacob cautiously made my way towards them, to obtain an easy shot. The line must have been half a mile long, and seemed as if it was never coming to an end. I was adjusting the 400-yards sight to my rifle, thinking I would not risk getting any closer as the bôk were affording a clear shot, when Jacob, by a low, long whistle, drew my attention to the ground at our feet, and I did not need him to tell me that what I saw, was quite fresh buffalo spoor. So fresh, in fact, it looked, that for some moments we peered through the bushes on all sides of us, expecting to see the buffalo themselves. We thought no more of the imparla, which had disappeared into the bush while we were deliberating, but turned all our attention to the nobler

game. On closer examination we discovered that the spoor all led in the same direction, and at right angles to our own line, so in all probability the herd, which, from the spoor numbered a couple of hundred, either had or would cross the path of Woodward and the other boys. There was no difficulty in followup, for a wide path had been forced through the bush, and broken twigs everywhere showed the way, without our even having to look on the ground.

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The spoor led straight to the sloot, and there turned up along the side. As the rest of the party were behind us, we waited for them to come up. We had not very long to wait for their arrival, but my patience was nearly exhausted notwithstanding.

The boys were so delighted that they could hardly restrain themselves from shouting and dancing. Woodward and myself were almost equally elated, though we did not show it in the same exultant manner. So as not to be impeded in our movements by the packages the boys carried, we determined to follow up the sloot until we came to the first likely place for water, and from thence leaving a couple of boys to prepare our camp for the night, start off on the spoor of the buffalo. Fortune favoured us; and just at the spot where the herd had themselves turned off from the sloot, we found a pool of water still left in a cleft of the rocks. It did not look at all inviting, as the surface was completely covered over with green blotches, but still it was better than we had any right to expect to find without digging at that time of year.

Only waiting long enough to give my horse a

drink, and let the boys wash their mouths out, we set out again on the spoor. Jacob kept his position in front, and I close behind him with Woodward near me, and the other boys pressing close up to us. Suddenly Jacob dropped as if he had been shot, and with arm stretched out towards a rise to our right, and with eyes almost starting from his head, hissed out "Inyati! inyati!" and there, following the direction of his arm, about a mile away, we made out a mass of great brown-looking objects slowly moving along amongst the trees. We held a short consultation with the boys, and then I with half of them started off to head the herd by a circuitous route, while Woodward and the remainder followed up the spoor in their rear.

The thorns grew thicker and thicker at every yard we advanced; and although I was now on horseback, I had great difficulty in keeping up with the boys, for the ground was covered with loose pieces of quartz and rock. I had taken my heavy doublebarrel rifle from Jacob at the first sign of the buffalo, and given him my Martini-Henry to carry instead. At last we came to the end of the thorns, and on passing out of them suddenly saw the buffalo within a hundred yards of us, evidently alarmed by the noise we had been making on our way through the dry crackling bushes.

As we emerged they set off galloping at right angles to us. Setting spurs into my horse, I was almost alongside of the racing herd in an instant; but my horse, frightened at the noise the huge beasts made crashing through the underwood, the thuds

of their hoofs on the hard ground, and their bellowings and snortings, began to plunge and rear violently. I jumped off, and either from being too excited and unsteady to take any proper aim, or from my horse pulling my arm as I fired, made a clean miss at a splendid bull tearing past, not fifteen yards from where I stood. The herd only increased their speed, and the line still continued to pass by me at the same distance. The first failure and disappointment steadied me in an instant, and taking a more quiet aim at the shoulder of one of the hinder ones, I had the satisfaction of seeing him-for it was another bull-stumble forward and fall over within twenty yards of where he was hit. Jacob had now come up and handed me the other rifle, with which I hit the very last of the line, but did not kill it. Leaving the bull where it was, on we dashed after the herd, but they struck for the thickest thorns and soon distanced us. When I had time to think of scratches, I discovered that all that remained to me of what had once been a flannel shirt was the neck, shoulders, and a few long ragged strips; the rest of it being left on the thorns we had pushed through, and my body looked as if I had been scarified all over.

Jacob had left me to try and follow up the wounded buffalo, which had turned off from the herd, always a sure sign of a mortal hurt. As I was riding back alone, in the direction of our camp, from a clump of reeds and grass, at some little distance from me, I caught a glimpse of an animal raising itself for an instant, and after a hasty look round it sank down again out of sight. At first, seeing it so