THE DRIVE. 



277 



very much disposed to laugh, particularly if my eyes 

 casually fell upon the serious countenances of William 

 and the Massara, or the few dozen earnest black- 

 skinned white-toothed humans that backed them up. 

 Considering that I had tried all their patience long 

 enough, I rose with unbending dignity and addressed 

 them, " Your proposal is good, it shall be done ; 

 when do you commence ? " The driver interpreted, 

 and with applause he rendered my words into 

 Sisuana. " Procrastination is the thief of time" was 

 evidently thought by all, for each at once armed 

 himself, and left the camp, to hurry to the place of 

 assembly, hut the two proposers of th' details of the 

 campaign remained with me. 



In an hour afterwards, or soon after eight, the 

 Massara commenced to show impatience, so we pro- 

 cured our arms, and followed his guidance. Three 

 guns we took with us, two smooth 10-bore doubles, 

 one for William, the other for myself, also my double 

 Express '^QO rifle, in case a lion or leopard should 

 show up, the bushman having provided himself 

 with a handful of assegais and a shield. The charge 

 of the non-rifled guns was 7 drs. of powder and a 

 spherical bullet. 



We had only about two miles to walk, the direc- 

 tion being about south-east, the slight wind that 

 existed being nearly due east. I had not been this 

 way before, and the country seemed quite undisturbed, 

 for I could make out with the aid of my binocular 

 several parties of hartebeests as well as sassabis 

 feeding as quietly and unsuspiciously of danf r as 

 fat cattle in a midland county meadow. The country 

 was very pretty indeed, being here and there broken 

 in its surface by long parallel ledges of loose stone 

 covered with dwarf brush, through which occasionally 

 a good sized tree grew. In the open flat was very 

 little timber, and that invariably small, but ant-hills, 

 some of considerable magnitude, existed, with the 



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