40 



A Breath from the Veldt 



continued with gradually increasing violence for twelve days. Every evening, 

 just as we were getting ready to go for a ride round the veldt on the chance 

 of picking up a buck, the heavens would darken and a perfect deluge follow, 

 accompanied by thunder and lightning. Such storms as I had never experi- 

 enced before burst over us ; and our only amusement was to sit and shiver 

 round the pole of a very leaky government tent, and " cuss " Africa and all 

 things African. We constantly moved our ground, eventually t;fying to cross 

 the Nelsport River to Mr. Jackson's farm, some forty miles from Beaufort 

 West ; but finding it impossible to get the cart across the swollen rivers, we 

 at last determined to return to Weber's. Here we fairly caught it. Never 



SPRINGBUCK CROSSING A ROAD 



in my life have I seen such floods of rain, or heard and seen such thunder 

 and lightning as prevailed on those three last nights. Sleep was out of the 

 question. The whole Karroo was transformed from a hard plain of cracked 

 mud into a vast quagmire ; and to keep clear of the mud we pitched our 

 miserable apology for a tent on a stony slope, thinking it would afford at least 

 comparative dryness. Disappointment, however, awaited us. During the 

 last night our tent was completely flooded, and all night long we stood up 

 shivering round the pole, watching a small river disporting itself over our 

 Kaross beds. This was a bit too much for my two companions, who were 

 both at Beaufort West to recover from lung troubles ; and as I did not care 

 to remain out alone on the chance of its clearing up, and I had, moreover. 



