270 HEAVY KAINS KUNAWAY OX. 



journeying with fifty or sixty Dam aras, accompanied only by 

 my native interpreter, when the chief of the party next to 

 whom I was walking turned sharply round and abruptly ac- 

 costed me in the following manner: "How is it that you 

 venture to go thus alone among us ? We might easily kill you 

 at any time." Without a moment's hesitation I replied, "I 

 neither fear you nor any other people, and simply because I 

 never injured you. You, on the other hand, are perpetually 

 robbing and killing your neighbors, and, consequently, you 

 have to dread the revenge of their friends and relations. Be- 

 sides," I jokingly added, "it is not quite so easy as you may 

 imagine to pull * three hairs out of a lion's tail.' " This was 

 exactly hitting the nail on the head ; for, if they had previ- 

 ously thought my argument good, they were now amazingly 

 pleased with the jest. 



We were delayed some little time at Barmen in conse- 

 quence of heavy rains that now almost daily deluged the 

 country. It was during this stay that the remarkable thun- 

 der-storm occurred — mentioned in a preceding chapter — 

 which caused such havoc among the native gardens. 



One day, while endeavoring to secure properly a young ox, 

 he broke loose, and, though alniost the whole village turned 

 out to assist us, we were unable to recapture the animal. 

 When an ox thus made off, we usually caused three or four 

 of the steadiest of his comrades to be driven after him, or we 

 put some good runners on his track. By the cattle or the 

 men keeping up a steady pace, they would soon exhaust the 

 refractory animal, and quietly bring him back to the camp. 

 In this instance, Karnarute, perhaps the fleetest man in Da- 

 mara-land, was sent in pursuit. 



While abiding his return I indulged in a warm bath, and, 

 just as I had finished my ablutions, I observed him coming 

 back with the runaway. As the animal, however, was not 

 proceeding in exactly the required direction, I placed myself 

 in his path for the purpose of turning him. But as he heed- 



