78 COMPLETE MY ENCAMPMENT. [chap. hi. 



after a giraffe. I saw him far off, coming down the 

 long slope on the other side of the river, and cantered 

 round him. As I got nearer and rode gently, I passed 

 two other individuals, each stalking the same beast ; 

 one was my faithful Hans, and the other, a brute of a 

 lion. I gallopped uj) to the giraffe, and put a large 

 bullet through his ribs, which sickened him at once. 

 I then rode in front of liim, as he slowly kept on his 

 road at a pace between a walk and a trot ; but when 

 I began to re -load, I found to my intense disgust, 

 that my powder-horn had jolted out of my pocket. 

 I could not turn the giraffe ; he forged steadily on at 

 about seven miles an hour, and. as the evening was 

 closing in, I had to leave him to go where he pleased. 

 I offered a good reward for my powder flask, which I 

 could not easily spare ; and men, women, and boys 

 ran off the next day on my horse's spoor, and found 

 it. I never carried a powder-flask loose in my pocket 

 again. Other Damaras followed, and got my giraffe for 

 themselves. 



In return for the meat of the dead mules, the 

 Damaras worked at strengthening my kraal, building 

 me a hut in it, and digging a well. I had logs of wood 

 or branches of trees planted upright in the ground at 

 intervals all round, and plenty of dabby bushes wattled 

 in between them. I made a good gate to the whole ; 

 for I wished to feel, that when Timboo, John Morta, 

 and I remained behind, and the rest of the party 

 were gone down to the Bay to fetch the waggons, I 

 might have a place of security agaist pilferers and 

 night marauders. 



