SHORTAGE OF ,x£R 



in connection with bullock-wagons. We wanted to get 

 away from the dreary, waterless country we had been 

 scouring in vain. There was one long stretch, a 

 twenty-four-hour trek, between two water-holes, and 

 we gave the cattle a day's rest before tackling it ; then 

 we inspanned in the cool of the evening and started 

 out on what we knew must be a wearisome ordeal. 

 At sunrise we were in the Rift Valley again ; at 

 noon we halted for a couple of hours and served out 

 water sparingly to the horses and carriers. The heat 

 was abominable; everyone was horribly thirsty, yet it 

 was out of the question to make a real stop. The 

 cattle must be got on to the next water-hole. 



It was a dreary-looking procession that wound 

 along the road that afternoon. The carriers were too 

 thirsty to chatter to one another, much less to sing ; the 

 white men were too parched to smoke. Horses and 

 cattle alike plodded along with drooping heads. Every- 

 one was longing for the trek to be over, longing for the 

 moment when he should be able to throw himself 

 down beside that water-hole ahead and forget — or try 

 to forget — that abominable dry stretch. 



And when at last we did reach the supposed pool 

 there was not a drop of water in it ! 



There was now only one thing to do. Scores of 

 lions might have been but a few miles off the track, yet 

 we should not have dared to turn aside in pursuit of 

 them. When you are short of water on the veldt every 



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