146 TERRIBLE MISFORTUNE. 



ings ; but upon getting nearer, we saw an object that looked 

 like the waggon lying on its side : no one was near it, and 

 there was no sign of a fire. What could be the matter ? 

 We walked up quickly to the spot,, but first went to the 

 vlei, for a little water. Here the catastrophe was explained. 

 Instead of water, a thick mud-paste covered the ground ; 

 large circular holes, nearly a foot deep, and two feet in 

 diameter, were, as it seemed, dug all over it ; one or two 

 large flat places looked as if the vlei had been rolled with 

 the trunks of trees ; these had been baked with the sun, 

 and were nearly hard and dry, not so much as a drop 

 of water. 



" A troop of bull-elephants had rolled in the mud and 

 trodden all the water away. 



" Not content with that, they had either through rage or 

 curiosity upset the waggon, broken one wheel off, and 

 scattered everything about. My Hottentot and Kaffirs no 

 doubt had bolted on the first appearance of the elephants, 

 without so much as firing a shot to try and drive them 

 away. The oxen had also fled ; and there we were, with 

 a few biscuits, beltong, powder, shot, and guns, a hundred 

 miles from help. This distance would have been 'nix' 

 (nothing) if we could only have procured water; but I 

 knew of none within forty miles, and we had now been 

 forty-eight hours without quenching our thirst. 



" I lay down on the ground in despair. The ivory I had 

 collected was scattered all about ; I thought I never 

 should convey half of it to my home. 



" Home ! How was / ever to reach home ? 



" I said to Karl, ' You are stronger than I am, you go on, 



