' 7 



Jim straightened up the double span again. Zwaart- 

 land leaned forward once more, and the others fol- 

 lowed his lead ; the waggon moved a little and they 

 managed to pull it out. But I, walking in front, 

 felt the brave old fellow stagger, and saw him, with 

 head lowered, plod blindly like one stricken to death. 



We outspanned on the rise, and I told Jim to leave 

 the reim on Zwaartland's head. Many a good turn 

 from him deserved one more from me the last. I sent 

 Jim for the rifle, and led the old front ox to the edge 

 of the donga where a bleached tree lay across it. ... 

 He dropped into the donga under the dead tree ; and 

 I packed the dry branches over him and set fire to the 

 pile. It looks absurd now ; but to leave him to the 

 wolf and the jackal seemed like going back on a friend ; 

 and the queer looks of the boys, and what they would 

 think of me, were easier to bear. Jim watched, but 

 said nothing : with a single grunt and a shrug of his 

 shoulders he stalked back to the waggons. 



The talk that night at the boys' fire went on in 

 low-pitched tones not a single word audible to me ; 

 but I knew what it was about. As Jim stood up to 

 get his blanket off the waggon, he stretched himself 

 and closed off the evening's talk with his Zulu click 

 and the remark that " All white men are mad, in some 

 way." 



So we crawled on until we reached the turn where 

 1| the road turned between the mountain range and the 

 river and where the railway runs to-day. There, 



where afterwards Cassidy did his work, we outspanned 



one day when the heat became so great that it was no 



422 



