150 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
We had tea, with bread and cold meat—and a most 
delicious meal it was—and then lay dozing or talking 
beside the bush-fires. At half-past eight, the moon 
having risen, we were off again. The safari was still 
in high spirits, and started with the usual chanting and 
drumming. 
We pushed steadily onward across the plain, the dust 
rising in clouds under the spectral moonlight. Some¬ 
times we rode, sometimes we walked to ease our horses. 
The Southern Cross was directly ahead, not far above 
the horizon. Higher and higher rose the moon, and 
brighter grew the flood of her light. At intervals the 
barking call of zebras was heard on either hand. It was 
after midnight when we again halted. The porters were 
tired, and did not sing as they came up ; the air was 
cool, almost nipping, and they at once huddled down in 
their blankets, some of them building fires. We, the 
white men, after seeing our horses staked out, each lay 
down in his overcoat or jacket and slicker, with his head 
on his saddle, and his rifle beside him, and had a little 
over two hours’ sleep. At three we were off again, the 
shivering porters making no sound as they started ; but 
once under way, the more irrepressible spirits speedily 
began a kind of intermittent chant, and most of the rest 
by degrees joined in the occasional grunt or hum that 
served as chorus. 
For four hours we travelled steadily, first through 
the moonlight, and then through the reddening dawn. 
Jackals shrieked, and the plains plover wailed and 
scolded as they circled round us. When the sun was 
well up, we halted ; the desolate flats stretched far and 
wide on every side and rose into lofty hills ahead of us. 
The porters received their water and food, and lay down 
to sleep, some directly in the open, others rigging little 
