76 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



The tramp back to camp was long and 

 wearisome. Could it be that I strode along 

 the same course whereon a few short hours 

 ago I had paced hand in hand with gentle 

 dreams ? There, — on that dusty, gasping sun- 

 scorched flat? Could it be that the stars and 

 the soothing dew lay beyond that expanse of 

 flaming sky, and that the laggard night, with 

 healing on her dusky wings, would draw them 

 down once more? 



That day Danster was on his way from 

 Gamoep with the horses. That afternoon Piet 

 Noona and his imp-like nephew would hurry 

 the oxen over the desert towards our camp; 

 they should arrive the following night. On 

 the next day we intended to break camp and 

 trek back westward. The return journey 

 would not be so arduous for the cattle; we 

 should have used up the greater part of the 

 water, and the load would be correspondingly 

 lighter. 



The horses arrived soon after sundown, — 

 old " Prince " with his deep chest, his power- 

 ful quarters, and his broad, shoeless, almost 

 spatulate feet. The other horse, "Buce- 

 phalus," was a big, raw-boned black stallion 

 which Andries had in training. Hendrick was, 

 so far, the only one able to ride him. 



