70 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



My physical condition had become acutely 

 serious on account of the increasing heat and 

 the more nearly vertical vantage of the sun's 

 arrows. The actual, immediate pain was bad 

 enough, — but how about consequences. St 

 Lawrence no doubt ascended to Paradise from 

 his gridiron, but I should have to toil on foot 

 over miles of desert after arising from mine. 

 Even if I thereafter soaked myself in olive oil, 

 days of blistered misery might have been in 

 store for me. Oh ! for a cloud or for Hendrick. 

 If he only had arrived within sight I might 

 have vacated my couch of anguish without 

 forfeiting his respect or my own. The loss 

 of expected sport became unimportant. 

 Ostrich shooting in the desert from a scherm 

 was far more than my fancy had painted it. 



Hist ! What was that ? It was not a sound ; 

 hardly was it a tremor. It was rather a thrill 

 not perceptible to any one sense; something 

 apprehended by the nameless perceptions of 

 the noumenon-area lying deep beneath the 

 phenomena of sensation. I risked sunstroke by 

 discarding my hat; then I slowly lifted my 

 head until I could look over the edge of the 

 scherm. At what I saw misery hid her face; 

 mind once more assumed command of body. 



The plain to the south-west was dotted with 



