320 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



near the fires and gone fast asleep, as soon as 

 they had seen the cattle begin to lie down, and I 

 would fain have followed their example, but was 

 afraid to do so lest any of the thirsty beasts should 

 wander away. Luckily, the bright moonlight en- 

 abled me to keep an eye on all the cattle as they 

 lay scattered about in the thin bush, from where 

 I sat. Presently Tinkarn suggested that we should 

 saddle up again and get on towards the river. He 

 had been giving me a lot of interesting informa- 

 tion about the desert Bushmen, their modes of 

 hunting, etc., and asked me to ride with him, 

 instead of remaining behind with my own troop 

 of cattle. 



This I agreed to do ; so, after waking up Dick 

 and all my boys and telling them to come on with 

 the cattle at once, I rode forwards, always leading 

 Collison's horse " Big Bles," on the tracks of the 

 Mangwatos' cattle, which had trampled broad paths 

 in the soft sandy ground, that were very plainly 

 discernible in the moonlight. I soon joined Tinkarn, 

 who was right in front with the two Bushmen, and 

 his pleasant companionship and cheery talk helped 

 very materially to relieve the tedium of the long, 

 weary ride. At last, just as day was dawning on 

 the morning of December 26, we reached the 

 little Luali river just where the waggon road crossed 

 it. Here there was plenty of good water, so 

 Tinkarn, the Bushmen, and I had a refreshing drink, 

 before the thirsty cattle had fouled it, for though 

 there were several good-sized pools amongst the 

 rocks of the river's bed, there was no running 

 stream. The Mangwatos' cattle were close behind 



O 



us, and my own troop I thought would not be far 

 behind them. However, when an hour had passed 

 and they had not arrived, I began to feel uneasy ; 

 but Tinkarn reassured me, saying that Dick and 

 the herd -boys must have loitered round the fires 



