124 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



to the head of a quiet little moromby (a reed 

 gully), running four or five miles back from the 

 river. At that particular camp Lewis followed 

 up and shot a very large bull eland one morning, 

 a tremendous beast, and enormously fat. This 

 excellent meat, so different from the ordinary 

 buck meat of which we were apt to get very tired, 

 was particularly acceptable just then, as we had 

 for some time been out of all supplies except tea 

 and salt, and could only get flour from the native 

 grains. Sugar was the thing that personally I 

 really missed, and as it is comparatively heavy, 

 unfortunately we often ran short of it. 



On coming back from a four days' trip up the 

 river again to Boopa, where I went this time alone 

 to save horse-flesh, and where I had justified a 

 warm welcome from the expectant " hyenas M 

 by managing to shoot a further couple of buck, 

 I learnt that a runner had brought in the news 

 that the German South- West force had surrendered 

 to General Botha, and that our orders now were 

 to join Johnson and West and see if we could 

 find out the whereabouts of Maritz himself. 



No sooner had our two comrades turned up 

 from Libebe, than the joint patrol, now five 

 strong, crossed the Quito and cut across the bush 

 to the Okavango. Hitting the old Portuguese 

 wagon track that runs up and down the river, we 

 cut the spoor of some small two-wheeled cart or 

 wagon that had just recently gone down. Both 

 Rensberg and myself thought that this might be 



