CHAPTER XVI. 



IN THE TREK TOP. 



the coming of day our friends were in high spirits, for the repulse at 

 the skulking Bushmen was complete. They were invisible, and all felt 

 that no further thought need be given them. 



Orak was doing so well that he stepped down from his couch in the wagon, and 

 Announced, as best he could, his intention of walking several miles for the purpose 

 of stretching his legs. His fever was almost gone and he possessed an excellent 

 appetite, the best evidence that he was rapidly recovering from the rough usage 

 received from the lion a couple of nights before. 



The specimens in natural history were lively, and promised to survive the long 

 journey before them, provided no untoward accident occurred. The natives under- 

 stood the nature of the curious little pets, and could be depended upon to give them 

 all possible care. 



It was yet early in the day when the train took up its lumbering course, it being 

 the intention of Mr. Godkin to trend toward the Atlantic coast, with a view of ulti- 

 mately striking it south of the Congo State. Although he made no mention of his 

 purpose, he meant that a part of the expedition should enter the Gaboon country 

 in search of the chimpanzee and gorilla. 



Noon had not yet come, when Pongo, who rode in advance, on the horse cap- 

 tured from the Bushman leader, made known that giraffes, or camelopards, were in 

 the neighborhood. He pointed out several well marked spoors, though nothing ot 

 the animals was seen. 



One of the curious facts connected with this creature is the difficulty that hunt- 

 ers experience in identifying it at even a moderate distance. Its peculiar shape 

 renders a sportsman liable to mistake a tree or high stump for it, such errors being 

 common with those that have spent years in Southern Africa. 



The temperature was uncomfortably high, when Mr. Godkin brought the train 

 to a halt, intending to resume the journey toward the middle of the afternoon. The 

 stop was near a stream of water, broader than that from which they had drawn 

 their supply the preceding night. It was believed to be a tributary of the Zam- 

 besi, whose delta is on the shore of the Mozambique Channel, in latitude 18 

 degrees south. 



The stream was fully an eighth of a mile wide, winding and sluggish, with a 

 growth of tall, rank weeds on both sides and with the shores so level that little fear 

 was felt of the stealthy approach of wild men, despite the shelter afforded by the 

 growth alongshore. 



The parties who set out to hunt giraffes were the two youths. Jack Harvey, 



