TKHtlliam Cotton swell 355 



2OO/, and presented it to us, saying he thought Mrs. 

 Livingstone had a right to the game of her own 

 preserves." 



Any sketch of William Cotton Oswell's career which 

 contained no reference to his faithful henchman John 

 Thomas would be incomplete indeed. " John Thomas," 

 writes his sometime master, " was an Africander, born at 

 the Cape, of parents probably slaves ; but as a grand 

 specimen of manhood, good nature, faithfulness, and 

 cheerful endurance, I never met his equal white or black. 

 Plucky to a fault, he was the least quarrelsome of men, 

 the life and light of our camp-fires, and the pet of the 

 Kafirs, who seemed at once to understand his quiet, 

 unpretending nature and always made their requests to 

 me through ' bono Johnny ' ! " 



When Oswell and Livingstone made their journey in 

 search of Lake 'Ngami there was a critical moment at 

 which the two explorers, having reached the lake and 

 being resolved to press on for fresh discoveries, found 

 their followers unwilling to accompany them farther. 

 The men had fulfilled their agreement ; they were not 

 bound to go beyond the lake, and they were timorous of 

 unknown dangers ahead. " Then," says Oswell, " out 

 stepped John, and speaking in Dutch, as he always did 

 when his feelings were touched, though he at other times 

 spoke English perfectly, said, ' What you eat I can eat, 

 where you sleep I can sleep, where you go I will go : I 

 will come with you.' The effect was instantaneous. ' We 

 will all go/ was the cry. Do you think after that it was 

 much matter to us whether our brother was black or 

 white ? " 



