BELIEF IN GHOSTS. 



;4' 



listened to the entreaties of my attendants, more 

 particularly to my Hottentot driver, not to outspan 

 in such an uncanny spot. However, I was wilful, 

 and had my way ; and well it was so, for scarcer- 

 had the tent been made secure over my waggon, 

 when down descended one of those torrents of rain 

 characteristic of the place and season. 



With the rain came the wind, which fairly 

 screeched in wrath, as if complaining, with angry 

 protest, that aught on earth dared to oppose its 

 progress. 



Excessive violence in the elements never lasts 

 long. As in man and woman, such ebullitions in 

 nature soon exhaust themselves. So, ere the ver- 

 milion lines of light in the west, that told the place 

 where the sun had disappeared, had been totally 

 deprived of their brilliancy, wind and rain had passed 

 to leeward, and calm but natural stillness usurped 

 the place of the raging elements. 



Hunger — what a matter-of-fact thing it is, and 

 how, in spite of adverse circumstance, will it, with 

 tyrannic power, assert its supremacy. Thus, my 

 attendants were soon busied over the flesh-pots by 

 compulsion, and the blaze of the camp fire ascended 

 brighter and stronger as the last remnants of day- 

 light disappeared. 



Still, my people were not happy ; the driver's 

 air was nervous and suspicious, whilst the subordi- 

 nates indicated by their movements, a dread of 



