and incessant gabble over and over again to those 

 who had witnessed it, after making every ear ring and 

 every head swim with his mad din, he grabbed his 

 sticks once more and made off for one of the kraals, 

 there to find drink for which he thirsted body and 

 soul. 



In the afternoon the sudden scattering of the 

 inhabitants of a small kraal on the hillside opposite, 

 and some lusty shouting, drew attention that way. 

 At distances of from two to five hundred yards from 

 the huts there stood figures, singly or grouped in twos 

 and threes, up to the highest slopes ; they formed a 

 sort of crescent above the kraal ; and on the lower side 

 of it, hiding under the bank of the river, were a dozen 

 or more whose heads only were visible. They were 

 all looking towards the kraal like a startled herd of 

 buck. Now and then a burly figure would dart out 

 from the huts with wild bounds and blood-curdling 

 yells, and the watchers on that side would scatter like 

 chaff and flee for dear life up the mountain side or 

 duck instantly and disappear in the river. Then he 

 would stalk back again and disappear, to repeat the 

 performance on another side a little later on. 



It was all painfully clear to me. Jim had broken 

 out. 



We were loaded for Lydenburg another week's 

 trekking through and over the mountains and as 

 we intended coming back the same way a fortnight 

 later I decided at once to leave Jim at his kraal, which 

 was only a little further on, and pick him up on the 

 return journey. 



402 



