LOST IN THE VELDT. 217 



chance and on she went. The sun set, and she still 

 kept on as before, the stars now showing me the 

 direction. I began to suspect something wrong, but 

 decided to see what she really would do, as I knew I 

 must sleep in the veldt. At last we came to a broad 

 river without water in it, and, without pausing to look 

 for any, she crossed it and kept on as before. I 

 thought it must be the Ramakwebani, which is near 

 where I started from, and therefore, after going on 

 some time longer, I turned her and went back to the 

 river, hoping to find water by scraping a hole in the 

 sand, in which I failed. I then tied the mare to a 

 tree, and, making a big fire, had a good night. Next 

 day I was moving at sunrise, and kept down the 

 river, still thinking it the Ramakwebani, when, to 

 my surprise, I suddenly came on the drift where 

 the waggon-road crosses it, and found it to be the 

 Impakwe, the next river that you cross beyond the 

 Ramakwebani in going to the king's. It was now 

 nine or ten o'clock in the morning and getting very 

 hot. My waggon was thirty miles away, and the 

 mare and myself tired and hungry. I let her feed 

 and drink, for there was plenty of good water. By 

 the time I had gone ten miles towards the waggon 

 she wanted another rest, being much too small for 

 my weight. I therefore gave her a good rest on 

 reaching the Ramakwebani, and it was late in the 

 afternoon when I started off again. By good for- 

 tune I met some Boers returning from hunting in 

 the Zambesi direction, and came in for some meat 

 which a Kaffir was cooking in the ashes. I never 



