CHAPTER V 



THE KANYA — THE SPELL OF THE DESERT — MY HORSE" 

 THE TERROR OF NOON — EXECUTION OF A MARAUDER. 



A 



NOTHER glorious morning; the air 

 was like cooled, sparkling wine. I 

 knew, both by the taste and the direc- 

 tion of the wind, that the day would be as mild 

 as it ever was in the desert at that season of 

 the year. Through the faint dew-haze a hint 

 of invitation — with a tender, enigmatic sugges- 

 tion of a smile, shone out of the east. That 

 was the day set apart for my journey to the 

 Kanya-veld, the fringe of which lay about ten 

 miles distant, beyond Typhon's eastern flank. 

 This is a region which lies solitary in the 

 very heart of solitude. " Kanya," in the Hot- 

 tentot tongue, means " round stone," and the 

 Kanya-veld is thickly paved with such stones. 

 They measure, as a rule, from four to eight 

 inches in diameter, and they lie packed so 

 closely that they nearly touch each other. 

 They are buried to the extent of about two- 

 thirds of their bulk in hard, red soil. Between 



