willing to learn. Riding all day long
across the open veldt was somewhat monotonous at times, and his rifle
practice and other manoeuvres helped to make the journeys pass more
pleasantly.

Thanks to the allowance which his father had left him, and which was
regularly transmitted from England, he was always supplied with an ample
sum, and this, when supplemented with the wages paid him at
Johannesburg, had given him sufficient for all his wants. Something to
ride was one of the most pressing of them, and with Tom's help he had,
soon after his arrival at Kimberley, become possessed of two Basuto
ponies, noted for their hardiness and agility. They were about the size
of an English cob, mouse-coloured, and somewhat scraggy looking. But
for all that they were wiry little animals, with plenty of spirit, but
not vicious. Jack named one Victoria and the other Prince, and had no
need to complain of his purchases. They turned out to be fast and
sturdy little animals, who could easily thrive on the veldt when
stable-fed horses would have starved. In addition, they were absolutely
sure-footed, so that one could trust them to gallop down the side of a
rough kopje, with the reins on their neck, without fear of an accident,
for they were used to the work, and could be left to themselves to leap
the boulders which came in their path, and steer clear of the ant-bear
holes and nullahs which cut up the ground in every direction.

A few weeks' training was sufficient, and before the prospecting tour
came to an end they would stand stock-still while Jack fired above their
heads, or at a touch from his heel would canter on, and turn swiftly
with the merest pressure of a knee. A jerk of the reins across their
necks, and down they would drop on the ground, the rider standing in his
stirrups and easily freeing himself, and there they would lie while Jack
fired his rifle over them. Sometimes, too, he would knee-halter them
and leave them to graze unattended. This knee-haltering was rapidly
effected. A long thong of untanned hide was passed over the neck, close
up to the head, and one end put through a slit in the other. The free
end was then taken round the leg just above the knee and secured with a
clove hitch. The animal could then hobble about over a limited area in
search of grass, but could not get far, and the halter could be thrown
off at a moment's notice.

But by this time other and more important matters began to engage