THE SCHIMMEL'S FIRST RACE So hard did Sihamba ride, and so swift and untiring proved the horse, to whose strength her light weight was as nothing, that, the veldt over which they travelled being flat and free from stones or holes, she reached the mouth of Tiger's Nek, twenty miles away, in very few minutes over the hour of time.

But the Nek itself was a mile or more in length, and for aught she knew we might already be taken in Black Piet's trap, and she but riding to share our fate.

Still she did not stay, but though it panted like a blacksmith's bellows, and its feet stumbled with weariness among the stones of the Nek, she urged on the _schimmel_ at a gallop.

Now she turned the corner, and the off-saddling place was before her.

Swiftly and fearfully Sihamba glanced around, but seeing no signs of us, she uttered a cry of joy and shook the reins, for she knew that she had not ridden in vain.