106 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



tremendous disability : he had no tribal 

 organisation, — the family was the independent 

 unit. 



Piet Noona's nephew, having had the duty 

 of collecting fuel assigned to him, carried a 

 considerable store of bushes to the vicinity of 

 the fire and there heaped them together. With 

 the exception of the " toa," most of the vegeta- 

 tion of the desert is globular in form, and, 

 being usually rooted in more or less soft sand, 

 is easily pulled out. Andries reached over 

 and seized a bush-globe; one that was rather 

 denser and larger than usual. This he flung 

 on the fire. Out of it glided, hissing, a snake — 

 a horned adder. The reptile was quickly de- 

 spatched. But upon seeing it Piet Noona 

 sprang into the air to a height of about four 

 feet; then he fled away into the darkness, 

 bounding sideways as he ran and shrieking. 

 He had gone quite mad for the time being. 

 This always happened when he found himself 

 in close proximity to a snake, and the madness 

 invariably manifested itself in the same way. 

 Years ago Piet had been bitten by a puff adder 

 and narrowly escaped with his life. Ever 

 since the sight of a snake at close quarters 

 has incontinently thrown his brain out of gear. 



