came over me when I realised that the footprints were 



leading the same way as we were going, instead of the 

 opposite way. What on earth did it mean ? 



I laid the rifle down and sat on an old stump to 

 think it out, and after puzzling over it for some 

 minutes came to the conclusion that by some stupid 

 blunder I must have turned round somewhere and 

 followed the line of the koodoo, instead of going 

 back on it. The only thing to be done was to 

 right about face and go faster than ever ; but, bad 

 as the disappointment was, it was a certain consolation 

 to know that we were on the track at last. That 

 at any rate was a certainty ; for, besides the footprints, 

 the general appearance of the country and many 

 individual features were perfectly familiar, now that 

 I took a good look at them from this point. 



At that moment I had not a shadow of doubt about 

 the way no more, indeed, than if we had been on 

 the road itself : no suspicion of the truth occurred to 

 me ; yet the simple fact is we were not then on the 

 koodoo trail at all, but, having made a complete circle, 

 had come on to our own trail at the molehill and were 

 now doing the circle the second time but the reverse 

 way now. 



The map on the opposite page is an attempt to 

 show what happened ; the details are of course only 

 guesswork, but the general idea is correct. The 

 koodoo themselves had moved in a rough circle and 

 in the first attempt to return to the waggons I had 

 started back on their trail but must have turned aside 

 somewhere, and after that, by dodging about looking 



140 



