Near the waggons we passed over the ' battle- 

 field,' and a huge guffaw of laughter broke from Jim 

 as we came on the abandoned impedimenta of the 

 defeated enemy. Several of the bundles had burst 

 open from the violence of the fall, and the odd collec- 

 tions of the natives were scattered about ; others had 

 merely shed the outside luggage of tin billies, beakers, 

 pans, boots and hats. Jim looked on it all as the spoils 

 of war, wanting to stop and gather in his loot there and 

 then, and when I pressed on, he shouted to the other 

 drivers to come out and collect the booty. 



But my chief anxiety was to end the wretched esca- 

 pade as quickly as possible and get the Shangaans on 

 their way again ; so I sent Jim back to his place under 

 the waggon, and told the cook-boy to give him the 

 rest of my coffee and half a cup of sugar to provide 

 him with something else to think of and to calm him 

 down. 



After a wait of half an hour or so, a head appeared 

 just over the rise, and then another and another, at 

 irregular intervals and at various points : they were 

 scouting very cautiously before venturing back again. 

 I sat in the tent-waggon out of sight and kept quiet, 

 hoping that in a few minutes they would gain con- 

 fidence, collect their goods, and go their way again. 

 Jim, lying flat under the waggon, was much lower than 

 I was, and continuing his gabble to the other boys 

 saw nothing. Unfortunately he looked round just 

 as a scared face peered cautiously over the top of an 

 ant-heap. The temptation was, I suppose, irresistible : 

 he scrambled to his knees with a pretence of starting 

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