148 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



plains, among the whispering shocks of the 

 " toa." That this was the case was evinced 

 by a young lay-brother with whom I was able 

 to converse in Dutch. He, of peasant origin 

 and with quite a lot of fire glowing through his 

 clay, found scope for his abounding energies 

 in looking after the stock belonging to the 

 Mission and generally carrying on the outside 

 administrative work. It was he who shep- 

 herded the tribe from one water-place to 

 another; it was he who took venturesome 

 journeys across wide stretches of desert for the 

 purpose of reporting as to the condition of the 

 pasturage surrounding the far-outlying oases. 



This man was brown and muscular; his eye 

 was steady and masterful — because his life 

 was spent in action, not in futile dreaming. 

 If he should have looked upon one of the 

 daughters of the desert and found her fair, I 

 would not have given much for his vocation. 

 I sincerely hoped he might do so. The daugh- 

 ters of the desert are not, as a rule, comely — 

 but, after all, beauty is relative. I imply noth- 

 ing discreditable; this man had taken no irre- 

 vocable vow of celibacy. 



The Pella Mission was engaged in the hope- 

 less task of endeavouring to make oil and 

 water mix — or rather, to change the metaphor 



