1812. LITTLE MAGERMAN ABSCONDS. — HOSPITALITY. 141 
SO many strangers with their carriages and attendants continued 
visiting my hut, yesterday and this morning, and the boy not com- 
prehending whether their object was good or harm, he was observed 
to look about him with mistrust, and to become evidently uneasy : 
yet he made no remarks to any one. I had myself while lying in my 
bed, noticed him very busy in putting in order his arrows, of which 
he had only fifteen in his quiver, by warming the heads over the fire 
to soften the poisonous compound with which they were covered ; 
and then rolling them cylindrically on a Bat stone, to smoothen the 
poison and bind it firmer to the arrow : but at that time I had not the 
least suspicion that he was preparing to leave me, otherwise I would 
have quieted his fears. Knowing his own intention, he had provided 
for his return, by begging tobacco from every one of the Hottentots, 
but had not ventured to take any provisions, as that circumstance 
would have betrayed his design ; nor had he even a tinder box, an 
article almost indispensable for such a journey. Although uneasy 
at losing him, I was far less anxious on his account, than I was at 
Cold Station, where I expected he would die while in our hands. 
I had now a hope that he would find his way back in safety to his 
father, and that, by travelling in the night, he would escape deten- 
tion by the boors ; yet the subject remained a source of some 
anxiety, lest the event should happen otherwise. 
A small tent was lent me by Mr. Kicherer, for the use of my 
men, and they pitched it on the open ground at the back of liis 
garden. 
26th. The bustle and variety of business had yesterday com- 
pletely occupied my attention and given me temporary strength ; but 
I was not so far recovered from my illness as I supposed. I relapsed 
into a state of great debility, and, in the course of the preceding 
night and during this day, became much worse than before. Tl/e 
fever and hoarseness increased to a high degree, and 1 was unable 
to leave my bed. Nothing could be more truly hospitable and 
friendly than the attention paid me by Mr. and Mrs. Kicherer, in 
whose house I thus lay sick : the lady, whose knowledge of domestic 
medicines was considerable, prescribed for me all those remedies 
which had been found, or thought, serviceable in the late epidemic ; 
