346 BELIEF IN GHOSTS. 



the morrow, and, much as I might have desired it, 

 I could not remain, so ordering Jansey to put the 

 saddle on Dopper — the horse that I am riding 

 to-night — I and my after-rider started. 



"If you have ever travelled that neighbourhood 

 you will remember that after you leave old Swartz's 

 farm, the country in front of you going westward 

 is as desolate a district, as any to be found in 

 South Africa ; rocks piled upon rocks, till the kopjes 

 assume the magnitude of hills, and scarcely a bush 

 or bunch of grass to be seen upon them. I had 

 only proceeded five miles before I received warn- 

 ing of the bursting of the storm. Large drops 

 of rain began to fall, and sudden brief gusts of 

 wind to wail among the adjoining krantzes. The 

 ravens and vultures wheeled their flight high aloft, 

 giving utterance to their harsh and repellent notes, 

 as if warning the dwellers upon earth of coming 

 evil. 



" The further we advanced, the storm increased in 

 severity, till the rain became a torrent and the wind 

 a hurricane. Jansey, pale as a Hottentot could be, 

 now rode up alongside of me, and begged me to 

 turn off the trail and seek shelter in a krantze adjoin- 

 ing our position. This I refused, but he persisted. 

 While doing so, he pointed with his hand to the 

 front, and exclaimed. ' For the love of God, Bass, 

 what is that ? ' I stared in the direction indicated, 

 but from the drift and rain could see nothing, and 



