14 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



the young ones making off into the cave, while the 

 baboons scuttled up the rocks, chattering as if their 

 very existence depended upon the amount of dis- 

 turbance they made. 



" To reach the ledge and examine my prize was 

 not the work of many minutes ; but the skin was a 

 poor one, as invariably is the case when an animal 

 is in milk. However, I soon had it off and rolled 

 into a pack, and the carcass kicked into the ravine ; 

 then I commenced to consider how I was to get 

 possession of the cubs. Small as they were, I knew 

 this to be no easy matter ; but they were valuable, 

 and their capture would be much more than ample 

 remuneration for the disappointment I had suffered 

 from their mother's hide being so inferior. 



" The interior of the cave was nearly as dark as 

 night, and although low in the roof it was smooth 

 on the floor, with a thick covering of sand ; so, on 

 my stomach sometimes, at others on my hands and 

 knees, I soon reached what I concluded was the 

 end ; where, after groping about for some minutes, I 

 touched a soft, hairy substance, which immediately 

 spat and hissed so viciously and malignantly that I 

 had little doubt of the identity of the creature. 

 With considerable trouble, and not without sundry 

 scratches and bites, I secured it and brought it into 

 daylight ; where, with the aid of a rheimkey, I 

 secured it in my kaross. 



"When about to again enter the cave, it sud- 



