138 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



and his relatives, both male and female ; then spoke as 

 to his own ability, ending each sentence with, "la 

 good man," which no one denied; but the oftener he 

 repeated it the more emphatic he became. At length 

 there was a long silence. I hoped that he had com- 

 menced to see the error of his ways, and was inter- 

 nally vowing to sin no more ; that his conscience 

 told him he was a transgressor; and that silently he 

 contemplated the heinousness of his past conduct. 



Presently we passed the scene of rejoicings ; the 

 windows were all ablaze, such as you see at Buckingham 

 Palace when a Court ball is taking place. Let me 

 remark, en passant, that so well do they manage these 

 things here, that they had neither soldiers nor police 

 to resist the mob or make the conveyances keep order. 



We did not halt, but passed on to the next out- 

 spanning-place ; before we reached which, our wagon 

 stuck in a spruit, and all the efforts of two teams of 

 cattle could not extricate us. So there we had to make 

 up our minds to remain all night. 



Half-an-hour after the abrupt halt we had been 

 brought to, William presented himself; his expression 

 was sad, his clothing disordered. I expected nothing 

 more than that he had come to ask me to examine the 

 medicine chest and give him a bolus or skilfully mixed 

 draft of the most potent ingredients. With a due pause, 

 sufficient to give dignity to his words, in very measured 

 and very concise terms, he said, "Bass, I am so 

 hungry ! " With gravity becoming the occasion I 

 referred him to Imp. 



That day had been one of great excitement- I am 

 not in the pristine heyday of youth ; I have got over 

 the vanities attached to dress, or the questionable 



