About midday
That was the fawn of an `` ourebi , '' -- one of the elegant little antelopes that are found in such variety over the plains and in the `` bush '' of Southern Africa . It was to Hendrik they were indebted not only for this pet , but for a dinner of delicate venison , which they had that day eaten , and which all of them , except Swartboy , preferred to elephant-beef . Hendrik had procured the venison by a shot from his rifle , and in the following manner . About midday he went out -- having fancied that upon a large grassy meadow near the camp he saw some animal . After walking about half a mile , and keeping among bushes , around the edge of the meadow , he got near enough to be sure that it _ was _ an animal he had observed , for he now saw _ two _ in the place he had marked . They were of a kind he had not met with before . They were very small creatures , -- smaller even than springboks , -- but , from their general form and appearance , Hendrik knew they were either antelopes or deer ; and , as Hans had told him there were _ no deer in Southern Africa _ , he concluded they must be some species of antelope .