9 o LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



pened. Probably no similar occurrence has 

 ever been witnessed by man. 



My guardian-centaur, Hendrick-cum-Buce- 

 phalus, appeared on the north-western horizon. 

 Yes, it was time to turn back, for the sun 

 had long-since passed the zenith. Hendrick, 

 as usual, looked supercilious when he found I 

 had shot nothing. It would have been useless 

 to have attempted to explain that Prince and 

 I had come out that day only to talk secrets 

 with the desert; Hendrick was too little re- 

 moved from the natural man to be capable of 

 understanding such a thing. He was an in- 

 teresting creature, this Hendrick. A dash of 

 Bushman blood in his veins had made him 

 taciturn; the pure-bred Hottentot is almost 

 invariably loquacious. But I found Hendrick 

 an ideal companion. He, too, without being 

 aware of it, loved the desert for its own sake. 

 But he delighted in seeing me make a good 

 shot, and was almost pathetically puzzled on 

 the occasions when I refrained from slaughter. 



Hendrick did not on that day find it neces- 

 sary to follow my sinuous spoor, but came 

 straight towards where he knew I most pro- 

 bably would be. On his way he found an 

 ostrich nest, with the inevitable jackal in its 

 vicinity. He had chased the marauder away, 



