334 
TEAVELS m CENTEAL AFEICA. 
SO on the men sallied. The lowing of the cows^ impatient for their 
distant tethered young, and the fierce bellowing of the sires of the 
herd^ indicated the close ^dcinity of the kraal. 
The plain gained, and wending their way along the broken 
tracks, amidst high herbage and thickly studded bushes, the village 
appeared in sight. In front of it was the kraal, enclosed with its 
dry thorn fence. The party separated, and forming two compact 
forces, a rush was simultaneously made to the extremities of the 
kraal, to surround it and secure the cattle. 
The barking of the dogs first apprised the owners of the approach, 
and the negroes at once fled, leaving the marauders, without the 
sacrifice of a charge of powder, masters of the kraal. The half- 
famished men seized at once the bowls containing porridge, hot 
from the fire, and calabashes full of milk, that the negroes had pre- 
pared for their breakfast. Comrades less fortunate continued the 
occupation (so recently abandoned by the negroes) of milking a 
goodly stock of cows. The cattle in good condition were roughly 
rated at upwards of a thousand. The word was given to un tether, 
and the herd was driven off, without molestation, till the confines of 
the forest which had sheltered the men during the previous night 
was attained. The trees being lofty and in leaf, the light was 
much obscured ; underwood, briars, and thick long herbage were 
incessant obstacles to their advance. But a few hundred yards had 
been gained, when flights of arrows announced an ambuscade. 
Disregarding the reminders of an unseen foe, the men still pushed 
on with the cattle, the negroes yelling indescribably, and at random 
shooting arrows. They were thus accompanied and harassed until 
the third day; the nights were passed without molestation, the 
marauders kindling large fires, and cooking a bullock or two, which, 
though without grain or salt, they ate with avidity. 
