238 REACH OKAMABUTI. [chap. vni. 



We pushed on the day after to beyond Otjando, and 

 then following our old spoor we arrived safely at 

 Otchikoto ; there we took a day's rest, and amused 

 ourselves in bathing. I made some fish-hooks out 

 of needles, and caught about a hundred small fish, 

 which we eat. We could hear nothing of the waggons 

 from the Bushmen. News travels very slowly in these 

 parts. 



Even at Otchikango no information could be 

 obtained. Ootui was deserted, and we were sick with 

 anxiety. If Chapupa had played false with Hans, 

 what shoidd we do ? — a handful of men on worn-out 

 beasts, with aU the savage Damaras and a dried-up 

 country in front. 



June 80th. — Three hours from Okamabuti, we came 

 upon Damaras ; they said that the waggons were to 

 have started that very morning to rejoin Chapupa, 

 who had . changed his encampment some days pre- 

 viously. Hans, they said, was well, but they knew 

 nothing more. We rode to Namboshua, took a drink 

 of water there, and then, two hours after, came upon 

 our waggons' spoor, and upon Okamabuti at the same 

 time. We anxiously examined the now deserted kraal 

 for tokens that all was right. We found John Morta's 

 cooking fire stUl burning, and vmmistakable signs 

 of his handiwork about, so that no harm had 

 happened to him. Phlebus' spoor was recognised 

 directly ; he had a large foot and walked flatly, and we 

 found some signs of John Williams. As the cattle kraal 

 was well trodden down, my oxen were probably all well ; 

 after a long search and comparing remarks, we rested 



