IN ANOTHER ANT-BEAR HOLE. 73 



so I quietly undid it and said nothing, although I 

 suspected much. 



The sun must have been down an hour when we 

 outspanned on a high table-land, Providence blessing us 

 with a bright, calm night. We both slept soundly, and 

 had a bath, cup of coffee, and were ready for the road 

 by daybreak, hoping to put at least ten miles behind us 

 before it became warm enough for the oxen to feed, 

 which they will not do while the dew is on the grass. 



Soon the cattle were in the yoke, and we started, nor 

 had we progressed a hundred yards, or yet re-entered 

 the road, when the ruffianly driver drove us bang 

 straight into a large ant-bear hole. This he could not 

 have done on the road, for there they do not exist ; 

 so as he was unable to balk the cattle on ascending the 

 hills by putting the brake on, he resolved to bring us 

 to a halt in this way. So effectually had the wretch 

 carried out his plans that the fore- wheel on the 

 nigh side was nearly out of sight, the axle resting 

 on the earth, the sole cause that it had not gone 

 in deeper; while the box of the wagon was lifted 

 forward over the crutch that kept it in its place. 

 I had neither Zeiderberg with me nor that good 

 man of Howick, so on my shoulders alone depended our 

 becoming extricated, and of all our former catastrophes 

 this looked far the worse. Pickaxes and shovels were 

 the order of the day ; but, would you believe it, the 

 cause of our difficulty refused to assist ? I had no 

 doubt that it was done intentionally, so I made up my 

 mind that, in spite of magistrates and penalties for 

 assault, I would make the offender work. So I offered 

 him a shovel, and pointed to the hole : no, he would not 

 take it. 



