A HOTTENTOT PATRIOT. 325 



had not with us two or three mutual friends he 

 named, for, as he forcibly expressed it, he was 

 hungry for a salted horse and a breechloading 

 rifle. But such things were not to be, and much 

 better so, I told him ; but the response he made 

 showed that he was not a convert to my ideas. 



" To-morrow you will be gone and safe, but my 

 family and self will be at the mercy of these brutes." 



My old attendant was not communicative that 

 night ; he had too many grievances to think of, to 

 make him a talkative companion. 



At break of day the marauders were moving, the 

 first thing they did being to inspect the boulders 

 behind which they intended to fix their ambuscade, 

 and no place could have been more admirably 

 situated for their purpose, for from it they could 

 perpetrate their despicable business at easy range, 

 and without being seen. 



Soon after mid-day a couple of these worthies 

 left the main body, and followed the back track they 

 had taken yesterday. Their business doubtless was 

 to report my approach. An hour after, all the horses 

 of my foes were collected and saddled ; but their 

 future conduct I cannot report, for Cigar insisted 

 upon an immediate start. So perfectly were his 

 plans organised that we had no fear of surprise, for 

 he ordered his son to the top of the nearest peak of 

 hill in the vicinity, with instructions that if the 

 enemy changed their plans and made a move in the 



