d quaggas?--for despised
they are by the Cape farmer, who shoots them only to feed his Hottentot
servants. Why had they so suddenly become such favourites with the
field-cornet? That you will understand by knowing the reflections that
were just then passing through his mind. They were as follows:--

Might not a number of these animals be caught and broken in?--Why not?
Might they not be trained to the saddle?--Why not? Might they not serve
him for hunting the elephant just as well as horses?--Why not?

Von Bloom asked these three questions of himself. Half a minute served
to answer them all in the affirmative. There was neither impossibility
nor improbability in any of the three propositions. It was clear that
the thing could be done, and without difficulty.

A new hope sprang up in the heart of the field-cornet. Once more his
countenance became radiant with joy.

He communicated his thoughts both to the Bushman and "Bush-boys"--all of
whom highly approved of the idea, and only wondered that none of them
had thought of it before.

And now the question arose, as to how the quaggas were to be captured.
This was the first point to be settled; and the four,--Von Bloom
himself, Hans, Hendrik, and Swartboy,--sat deliberately down to concoct
some plan of effecting this object.

Of course they could do nothing just then, and the drove that had come
to drink was allowed to depart peacefully. The hunters knew they would
return on the morrow about the same hour; and it was towards their
return that the thought of all were bent.

Hendrik advised "creasing," which means sending a bullet through the
upper part of the neck near the withers, and by this means a quagga can
be knocked over and captured. The shot, if properly directed, does not
kill the animal. It soon recovers, and may be easily "broken," though
its spirit is generally broken at the same time. It is never "itself
again." Hendrik understood the mode of "creasing." He had seen it
practised by the boor-hunters. He knew the spot where the bullet should
hit. He believed he could do it easily enough.

Hans considered the "creasing" too cruel a mode. They might kill many
quaggas before obtaining one that was hit in the proper place. Besides
there would be a waste of powder and bullets--a thing to be considered.
Why could they not snare the animals? He had heard of nooses being set
for animals as large as the Quaggas, and of many being caught in that