36 THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



We were not long in hatching out a safe plan to help 

 ourselves to the fruit. The orchard was a long way from 

 the homestead of the owner, and all was open veld, so that 

 our sentinels had a clear view. We used to watch our 

 chance from a neighbouring krantz, and when the coast 

 was clear we raided the orchard. The farmer tried all 

 kinds of ways to get even with us. He poisoned some of 

 the fruit, he set traps, he dug pits and lay in ambush, but 

 all to no purpose. We baboonfolk had learned from ex- 

 perience, and we took good care to profit by it. You 

 humanfolk are often very stupid and silly. You won't profit 

 by the experiences of your forefathers. You just go blunder- 

 ing along and learn by having to suffer yourselves, whereas 

 if you only had the sense to turn the experiences of others 

 to account you would be able to live long and happily. 



The farmer had a crafty, worldly-wise old Hottentot 

 servant. This man was uglier than any of us baboonfolk. 

 His face was wrinkled just like parchment a thousand years 

 old. His eyes were like two small, shiny, black beads, and 

 he was shrunken-up like an Egyptian mummy. 



Well, anyway, he had the cunning of a baboon, as well as 

 that of his own tribe. 



WHAT THAT HOTTENTOT DID 



One day we saw the old Hottentot walk down to the 

 orchard with a gun. He walked about for a time. We 

 made very merry, thinking what a silly fellow he was to 

 think that we would venture down from our caves and 

 ledges when he paraded about so openly. By and by he 

 went away. We watched until he had gone out of sight, 

 and, posting our sentinels, we made a raid on the orchard. 

 One of our womenfolk was looking inquisitively around, 

 when she spied something lying upon the grass. We were 

 alarmed at first, thinking it was a new sort of trap. We got 



