etly and
uneventfully, toward Port Elizabeth, where we arrived without mishap
during the afternoon of the ninth day after leaving Bella Vista.
Leaving the wagon outspanned on the outskirts of the town, I rode in and
called in the first instance upon a certain Mr Henderson, who was a
friend of ours, and from him received, as I fully expected, a very
cordial invitation to make his house my home during the period of my
sojourn in the town. The following day was a busy day with me, for I
had a great many commissions to execute; but by arranging them
systematically I contrived to wipe the whole of them off my list before
the stores closed, including even the purchase of the new rifle which I
had promised myself. This was a very expensive but beautiful weapon,
very light compared with my old rifle, for it weighed, all complete and
including the shoulder strap, less than six pounds. It had a plain blue
cylindrical barrel, gauged to take a half-inch spherical bullet with
three drachms of powder, was fitted with a nipple for percussion caps,
and provided with a fixed sight for a range of one hundred yards and two
flap sights for two hundred and five hundred yards respectively, the
latter being regarded in those days as an exceptionally long range.
Also, with a normal pull upon the trigger of six ounces, it was fitted
with an ingenious arrangement which, by pressing a small lever,
converted this into a hair trigger. Lastly, it bore the name of a
certain famous London maker, which alone was a guarantee of its
excellence. The storekeeper from whom I bought it had other guns by the
same maker, and he finally tempted me to buy a very beautiful
double-barrel sporting gun as a present for my father, the right hand
barrel being a Number 12 smooth-bore, while the left barrel was rifled,
this piece also being fitted for use with percussion caps.

The next day, which was the eleventh day from that of my departure from
Bella Vista, immediately after breakfast I rode out to the wagon, gave
orders to inspan, and accompanied it into the town, where, having
unloaded my hides and horns, which I had disposed of at a very good
price, I proceeded to load up the powder, lead, and other things that I
had been charged to procure, and left Port Elizabeth again on my return
journey about mid-afternoon, trekking a distance of ten miles on my
homeward way before outspanning for the night.

Of course I was all on fire for an opportunity to try my new