308 JOIN HANS' PAETY. [chap. x. 



Elephant Fountain, we heard a report about Hans, 

 which, though untrue, alarmed me exceedingly ; it was 

 to the effect that he had shot himself, and that the 

 waggons lay on this side of Eikhams. I was so 

 anxious, that I pushed the oxen through the night, 

 and with but little intermission we were again on the 

 road in the morning ; we there found Damaras, who, 

 to my great relief, assured me that he was alive and 

 well, and I therefore left the waggon oxen with the 

 men, to have drink and food, and started on first, and 

 walked till I had the pleasure of seeing Hans again, 

 who, after all, had had no accident whatever ; he had 

 every thing in perfect order, and, as usual, had to 

 show me some result of careful thrift and hard work. 



The sense of oxen is wonderful; the two sets, 

 mine and his, that had been separated nearly three 

 months, knew each other again perfectlj^, and passed 

 the night together in the most amicable way, instead 

 of fighting and knocking their horns together as new 

 acquaintances always do on their first introduction 

 to each other's society. I was badly off for small 

 cattle ; of the forty goats tliat I had bought from 

 Jonker, hardly one was alive ; thej' had all died of a 

 distemper one after the other. Hans gave me a 

 terrible account of the state of the roads south ; he 

 said that Hterally there was no grass whatever for 

 great distances together. In coming up to meet 

 me, the oxen that he had were knocked up entirely, 

 and he had to send first to Jonker's and then to 

 Mr. Hahn's, a journey of many days, for assistance. 

 My oxen were fresh enough, for they had had a long 



