THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 49 



yonder are the womenfolk making preparations, as usual, 

 for making preserves and jam. No man can be seen. He 

 must be lying low inside the house, or elsewhere, with 

 loaded guns. No, my people, we must not fall into that 

 trap. Let us be content to go elsewhere and turn over the 

 stones on the hillside for scorpions, beetles, spiders, and 

 centipedes, and visit the adjacent mimosa trees and gather 

 gum. I know of a clump of prickly pears, the fruit of which 

 may, perchance, be ripe enough to eat. Let us away." 



OUTWITTED 



Creeping out from the crannies, crevices, and caves of 

 the krantz which is our home, one bright cloudless morning, 

 our attention was arrested by a loud grunt of satisfaction 

 from our chief. Shading his eyes with his hand, he was 

 carefully watching something which seemed to give him 

 great pleasure, for his sour old visage looked quite pleasant. 

 Looking in the direction in which he was gazing, we saw 

 an old Hottentot lead three saddled horses up to the Dutch- 

 man's stoep. Presently three people came out, mounted, 

 and rode off. " Hoch," shouted our leader, and we all 

 cheered and capered with delight. Carefully watching 

 until the three riders were out of sight, and waiting for an 

 interval, meanwhile carefully searching the landscape in all 

 directions to see if we could detect anything of a suspicious 

 nature, we climbed down the krantz, and, creeping along, 

 hid amongst the boulders, and waited. Presently the 

 womenfolk came out of the farmhouse. They went to the 

 orchard, spread out their mats, and began picking fruit. 

 We waited long and patiently, until the jam, preserves, and 

 syrup were just about cooked. Then creeping along, we 

 issued forth into the open, and with terrific barks and much 

 chattering, we advanced slowly. The women began to 

 scream and wave their big aprons, and throw firebrands 



D 



