A ROUGH JOURNEY 159 



bruises, but hard work it was to right the cart. The wheels, 

 luckily, were sound, the rents and dents mattered little, and, 

 as we hoped to reach Kimberley early next morning, no time 

 was lost in again getting under weigh; but there was no 

 improvement in the road, and the heavy mails having been 

 shifted by the upset the weight behind was all on one side. 

 This made the drive very unpleasant, for it was " even betting " 

 whether we turned over whenever a wheel passed over a stone, 

 and being utterly tired out, every one had become highly 

 nervous and very "jumpy." It was indeed not to be wondered 

 at considering all the dangers by flood and field we had passed 

 through ; the want of proper sleep, the terrible aching all over 

 and general sense of weariness after 180 hours of almost 

 continual jolting and bumping, that our nervous systems had 

 become unstrung and sadly in want of rest and repair. After 

 one particularly narrow escape from another upset, the moon 

 being at the time obscured by clouds, a deep sigh issued from 

 the dark interior of the coach followed by a despairing cry, 



" And now the moon has gone out too ! " The wail was 



so intensely quaint and so expressive in its sense of utter hope- 

 and helplessness as to make us all burst out into roars of 

 laughter. Too nervous to stay in the cart any longer, we all 

 got out, preferring to walk to the next stage Barkly West 

 then not more than a mile distant. From there, with good 

 teams and a level road, it did not take long to finish the 

 journey the last 23 miles to Kimberley where we arrived 

 at 8 a.m. 



