10 EXPEDITION INTO 



proposed that lie slioiild furnish us on hire with a team 

 of his o^^•n. To this he at first consented, but altered his 

 mind upon some frivolous pretext, even before the operation 

 of 3^okino' was completed. 'Our own provisions, on which 

 we entirely depended, were by this time exhausted, and 

 I considered m3^self fortunate in killing* two spring*-bucliS. 



On the third day, the accidental and opportune arrival of 

 a field cornet named Cornelius, a centurion having* soldiers 

 under him, g'ave a favourable turn to our affairs, at the very 

 moment that I had resolved to ride on to Graaff Reinet for 

 magisterial assistance. We stated our case to this worthy 

 individual, who forthwith accompanied us to the nest of 

 thieves among* whom we had fallen, and having* threatened 

 them with leg-al retribution, sent to our aid two of his own 

 servants, who succeeded on the following* day in recovering* 

 the twelfth ox, the other seven having* been in the mean time 

 cunning*ly restored by Erasmus, whose finished villan}^ we 

 could not help admiring*, however much we had suffered by 

 it. Leaving* him to the tender mercies of the field cornet, 

 who prohibited us from paying* any reward, we pursued our 

 journe}^ on the morning* of the 5th. Before dismissing* 

 Erasmus from these pages, I may add that on our way back 

 throug'h the colony, about twelve months afterwards, we 

 were forced by heavy rain, I need scarcely say contrary to 

 our wishes, ag*ain to halt at his farm. The hand of fate had 

 fallen heavily upon him and his race ; the house was deserted 

 and its inmates extinct — a small g*roup of gTaves before the 

 door being* all that remained, instead of a numerous and 

 well-favoured family. 



As we advanced, the country became more open and 

 practicable, and was covered with larg*e herds of eleg-ant 

 spring'-bucks, bounding* playfully across the road. Whilst 

 vninly pursuing' some of these antelopes, a favourite dog* 

 belong'ing* to my companion ruptured a blood-vessel, and 



