THE POACHERS CAUGHT 237 



We inspanned at sunset, and plunged 

 straight into the desert, travelling slightly to 

 the south of east. Our objective was lower 

 Pof Adder which must not be confounded 

 with the northern Pof Adder beyond Namies. 

 We were out of the region of " toa " ; the plain 

 was covered with small shrub, half of which 

 were soft and succulent and the others hard 

 and thorny. There were no intermediate 

 kinds ; the desert is a region of extremes. 



In spite of the jolting I managed to get a 

 few hours' sleep. We outspanned for an hour 

 at midnight and made coffee. Now we had 

 some heavy sand-tracts to cross, with jolty 

 stretches lying between them. But we reached 

 the camp of the half-breeds just at dawn, as 

 had been intended. 



They were caught if not exactly red- 

 handed, yet with ample proof of their guilt. 

 In the mat-houses of the suspected men we 

 found boxes and bags packed full of feathers. 

 These were of all kinds from the long white 

 plumes and the short blacks of the male bird, 

 to the browns of the hens and chicks. The 

 culprits pleaded guilty; retributive justice was 

 forthwith satisfied at the wagon-wheel. 



The camp was quite a large one; I should 

 say it contained over sixty souls, men, women 



