LAUNCH OF THE IRON BOAT. 69 



fire. After saying a few words, which we were not 

 sufficiently near to hear, he walked with a light step 

 towards the fire round which our party sat. It was 

 an exciting moment. Moloka reached us and stood by 

 the fire without uttering a word. We scarcely dared 

 to ask him what he had come to say. I waited for 

 Mr. Young, and felt he was anxious I should break 

 the ice. At last I asked, ''Well, Moloka, what suc- 

 cess ?" Never shall I forget the exciting joy I for 

 one experienced when he replied, in English, " The 

 English are the fathers of the Makololos, and the 

 children will follow their fathers and their chief and 

 fight and die with them. When Mr. Young be 

 ready to start ?" The happy termination to this busi- 

 ness, and the relief from the great suspense I had been 

 suffering, caused by this good fellow's reply, aroused 

 such an excited feeling of delight within me, that I 

 found some difficulty in uttering the words "Bravo, 

 Moloka !" as I shook him by the hand. Never did I 

 turn in with a lighter heart. 



Long before the sun rose next morning Reid and 

 myself were up to our eyes in red-lead painting the 

 seams of the boat, and we were soon after joined by Sta- 

 cy, and at breakfast-time the hull of the Search was 

 completed. A few minutes after eleven o'clock she was 

 moved on to oars, placed on the ground, and then 

 propelled by the hands of some forty natives. Her 

 cable having been secured to a tree, she slid majesti- 

 cally into the water amidst hearty cheers. She then 

 swung round with the current, and Reid, who jumped 

 into her to ascertain if she leaked at all, having exam- 

 ined her closely, waved his cap in triumph over his 



