92 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



position, and one that it would require much labour to 

 extricate us from. The remainder of that afternoon, 

 William, the boys, and myself worked like navvies. 

 Morris, who was again feeling unwell, sat hard by on a 

 camp-stool, attending to the fire and keeping a constant 

 supply of chocolate ready ; while Holly awakened the 

 echoes of the interior of the wagon with, not the stereo- 

 typed " Red, White, and Blue," but the most diabolical 

 groans and grunts. 



Soon after dark I got my friend to retire, and as 

 there were now two in the wagon, I slept, or tried to 

 do so, underneath it. The dogs would not leave me 

 alone : first one licking my face, then my hand, and 

 so on, till a free fight would take place among them ; 

 for Bob, a large rough greyhound I had obtained from 

 Zeiderberg, and Bontebuck, who were pals, seemed to 

 think that I was their undivided property, and that 

 none of the others had the slightest right to come 

 near me. All did not see it in this light, and one more 

 venturesome than another would approach, when woe 

 betide him or her, for both the greyhounds would be 

 on the intruder in a moment ! The disturbance would 

 summon the others, and there would be a perfect Babel 

 of yells, worries, and snaps, till the Kaffirs turned out 

 with their jambocks, to separate the combatants. 



One of the boldest and most irrepressible was a 

 black bitch, seemingly three-parts greyhound, the re- 

 mainder pointer. She had a puppy with her about six 

 months old, the ugliest, queerest-looking nondescript 

 in dog-flesh I have ever seen. Its body was like a 

 greyhound's, the ears as large in proportion as a fennec 

 fox's, and the place of a tail was supplied by a scut. 

 This curiosity, when not stealing, eating, or sleeping, 



