CHAPTER V. 



THE CAMP IN BECHUANA LAND. 



<4|T was a merry parry which formed the camp in Bechuana Land, near the 

 M Kalihari Desert, and almost under the Tropic of Capricorn. It was the most 

 T^ favorable season of the year, and every member of the original company had 

 reached this distant point without serious accident. Naturally, therefore, all were 

 in good spirits and full of high hopes. Ah, if I could but say the same a short 

 time later ! 



What was still more remarkable, not a horse or ox had been lost, and the wagons 

 proved they had been thoroughly " salted." One of the goats wandered too near a 

 boa-constrictor one day, and the reptile darted his head from the limbs of a tree in 

 which he was coiled and gathered in the poor capricornus with the quickness of 

 lightning. 



The indignant Jack Harvey put a bullet through the eyes of the enormous ser- 

 pent and gave him his quietus, but that didn't bring the goat back to life. As it 

 was, however, our friends could not but admit they had been extremeryfortunatc 

 thus far, and they prayed heaven that their good fortune might continue. 



The camp was on one of the many tributaries of the Hart River which ulti- 

 mately finds its way, by means of the Great Orange, into the South Atlantic Ocean. 

 The wagons were placed near the bank of the stream, which was several rods wide, 

 the animals collected in an irregular circle within them, while two large fires were 

 kindled with the intention of keeping them burning until daylight. The horses and 

 oxen had become so accustomed to the perils of the country that they required 

 little attention, except when actually threatened by the attack of wild animals. 



The natives busied themselves by attending to the fires and preparing the even- 

 ing meal. The abundance of dry grass and wood near at hand rendered the gather- 

 ing of fuel a comparatively easy matter, while one of the double-barrel shot-guns 

 had been turned to such good account by Mr. Godkin that there was a full supply 

 of palatable antelope steak. 



The animals had advanced to this point at such a leisurely pace, and had been 

 given so many opportunities to crop the luxuriant grass on the way that they lacked 

 nothing, and the oxen contentedly chewed their cuds as they lay on the ground, 

 before sinking into slumber. 



The evening meal being finished, the natives sat apart, where most of them could 

 chatter in their own peculiar fashion and sec that the fires were not allowed to die 

 out. The four Americans, having looked after their ponies, also assembled in a 

 group by one of the fires, to engage in conversation as was their custom at the close 

 of each day. 



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