as his
father said--

"If a farmer is to be able properly to look after men at work, he must
be able to do the work himself."

While Dick was at work with the men, John, who was too young to be of
any use, remained indoors at his books, and, although of an afternoon he
would stroll out, he seldom went far from the house. The other boys
generally went for long rides when work was done. One day they sighted
a herd of steinbock. Leaving their horses with the Kaffir lad in a
hollow, they crept round so as to get the deer between them and the
wind, and managed to reach unobserved a brow within a hundred yards of
the herd. Dick had by this time become a good shot, and the buck at
which he aimed fell dead in its tracks. Tom was not much of a shot, but
he had fired into the thick of the deer and gave a shout of delight at
seeing one of them fall. The rest of the herd dashed off at full speed.
Tom ran, shouting, forward, but to his mortification the stag that he
had hit rose again to its feet and went off at a trot in the direction
taken by the others; a minute later the Kaffir boy was seen running
towards them at his full speed, leading the horses.

The two boys on his arrival leapt into their saddles and started in
pursuit of the wounded stag, which was still in sight, thinking at first
they could easily ride it down. But the animal seemed rather to gain
than to lose strength, and, although they had considerably lessened the
start he had obtained of them, he still kept steadily on. Active and
wiry as their horses were, they could not overtake it, and the boys had
at last the mortification of seeing that the stag was now gaining upon
them, and they presently drew rein, and their panting horses came to a
standstill.

"What a horrid sell!" Tom Jackson exclaimed angrily. "I can't
understand his going like that after I fairly brought him down."

"I expect," Dick said, "that your bullet can only have grazed his skull;
it stunned him for the moment, but after he had once come to himself he
went on as briskly as usual. If he had been hard hit we should
certainly have ridden him down."

"Well, I suppose," Tom said more good-humouredly, "there is nothing for
it but to ride back."

"But which is our road?" Dick said in some dismay. "I am sure I have
no idea, and now that the sun is gone in there is nothing to steer by."

While they had been riding, the day had changed; the sky, which had for
weeks been bright and f