150 TREKKING [ch. vii 



We had tea, with bread and cold meat — and a most 

 dehcious meal it was — and then lay dozing or talking 

 beside the bush-fires. At half-past eight, the moon 

 having risen, we were off again. The safiiri was still 

 in high spirits, and started with the usual chanting and 

 drumming. 



We pushed steadily onward across the plain, the dust 

 rising in clouds under the spectral moonlight. Some- 

 times we rode, sometimes we walked to ease our horses. 

 The Southern Cross was directly ahead, not far above 

 the horizon. Higher and higher rose the moon, and 

 brighter grew the flood of her light. At intervals the 

 barking call of zebras was heard on either hand. It was 

 after midnight when we again halted. The porters were 

 tired, and did not sing as they came up ; the air was 

 cool, almost nipping, and they at once huddled down in 

 their blankets, some of them building fires. We, the 

 white men, after seeing our horses staked out, each lay 

 down in his overcoat or jacket and slicker, with his head 

 on his saddle, and his rifle beside liim, and had a little 

 over two hours' sleep. At three we were off again, the 

 shivering porters making no sound as they started ; but 

 once under way, the more irrepressible spirits speedily 

 began a kind of intermittent chant, and most of the rest 

 by degrees joined in the occasional grunt or hum that 

 served as chorus. 



For four hours we travelled steadily, flrst through 

 the moonlight, and then through the reddening dawn. 

 Jackals shrieked, and the plains plover wailed and 

 scolded as they circled round us. When the sun was 

 well up, we halted ; the desolate flats stretched far and 

 wide on every side and rose into lofty hills ahead of us. 

 The porters received their water and food, and lay down 

 to sleep, some directly in the open, others rigging little 



