THE ALTAR OF DECENCY 99 



that night's supper, — for on the night previous 

 we had trekked without a halt. The flesh of 

 Autolycus was soon roasting on the embers; 

 all our Hottentots were smacking their lips in 

 anticipation of a feast. 



I formally presented both jackal skins to 

 Piet Noona's nephew, — but under an under- 

 taking that they were not to be sold or other- 

 wise alienated. The skin of the first jackal 

 was too thoroughly riddled with buck-shot to 

 be of much use to me ; that of the second was 

 badly torn by the bullet. They were to be 

 brayed, mended, and donned by the recipient 

 with as little delay as possile. 



This gift might have been described as an 

 offering on the altar of decency. I was not 

 inclined to prudery, but Piet Noona's nephew 

 was beginning to grow up, and his sumptuary 

 condition was shocking. In fact his only 

 available garment was a tattered fragment of 

 sheepskin, — a fragment so scanty that it would 

 have barely sufficed to cover the opening of a 

 porcupine's burrow. Even then it could not 

 have been guaranteed to keep out the draught. 

 The jackal-skins were not large, but compared 

 with the sheepskin fragment they would have 

 been as an overcoat to a child's pinafore. I 

 explained how they were to be worn : one in 



