166 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



cussion caps, biscuit, tea, coffee, sugar, and a number 

 of other articles, some of which were damaged and 

 some entirely destroyed. 



I marched at dawn of day on the 30th. Seleka and 

 his men and my hired Baquaines had done all in their 

 power to prevent my proceeding further ; but as they 

 could not conceal the waters from me, my course being 

 to follow the Limpopo, I was perfectly independent of 

 them. They remained by me until I crossed the Lim- 

 popo, and then all turned home. I was now once more 

 without natives, and held down the northwestern bank 

 of the river, but very soon Bakalahari joined us, and 

 their numbers increased as we held on. I had the good 

 luck this day to bag five more first-rate hippopotami. 



The next day, after assisting my men to get out 

 some of the sea-cows, I rode down the river with two 

 after-riders to explore. Having ridden a few iniles, ] 

 came upon a troop of twelve, the best of which I dis- 

 abled and killed the next day. This was a most splen- 

 did old cow, and carried tusks far superior to any we 

 had yet seen ; in the afternoon I bagged six more. 



From a continued run of good luck in all my hunt- 

 ing expeditions with my horses and oxen, in regard to 

 lions and Bakalahari pitfalls, I had become foolishly 

 careless of them, and I had got into a most dangerous 

 custom of allowing the cattle to feed about the wagons 

 long after the sun was under. I was always boasting 

 of my good luck, and used to say that the lions knew 

 they were my cattle, and feared to molest them. This 

 night, however, a bitter lesson was in store for me. 

 The sun, as usual, had been under an hour before I 

 ordered my men to make fast my horses : the oxen had 

 of their own accord come to the wagons and lain down ; 

 the. horses, however, were not forthcoming. My hired 



