THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 105 



D said he felt very hungry, as all the food 



brought from the waggon was consumed. No 

 game, except a few hartebeestes and brindled gnus, 

 was in sight, and after two fruitless shots they 

 also took to flight 



Finding a huge and hideous puff adder, D 



killed it, cut off its head, and quickly grilled it 

 on the ashes of a fire the Hottentot had made in 

 the little thorny " skerm " which was to be their 



sleeping quarters. D and the " boy " supped 



royally on the beastly reptile ; found it very much 

 to resemble eel, but hardly comparable to the club 



dinners in London, the thought of which, D 



says, were a constant source of annoyance to him 

 during his long sojourn in the desert. With the 

 advent of night, elephants, rhinos, lions, and other 

 game crowded the margin of the pool, and seemed 



to care very little for the huge fire which D 



kept blazing, and eventually a huge rhino came 



so close to the " skerm " that D thought it 



incumbent to fire at him. The rhino bolted off 

 a few yards and fell dead ; but it at length became 

 necessary to scare the huge pachyderms by barking 

 like dogs by turns, and thus by alarming the brutes 

 gain a little exemption from the chance of being 

 trampled upon, and a modicum of sleep. 



