bark of the baboon and the scream
of the eagle. But of man there was no sign. At night we would creep
into some crevice or hole in the rocks, but it was seldom we dared make
a fire, lest its light should be seen afar. Sometimes, however, we
would find a deep cleft where the light would be screened by the rock in
front, and then we would rejoice in the warmth while we roasted our game
at the comforting blaze, for the mountain--side abounded in several
species of small buck, which I had no difficulty in obtaining at any
time with assegai or knobstick. But there was other game more fierce,
more formidable. Once, indeed, when we were about to take possession of
such a cave for our night's quarters, we found it already tenanted by a
fierce and growling leopard. We could see the brute's glittering eyes
in the darkness as it retreated to the back of the hole and crouched
there, uttering savage snarls; but that was all we could see of it, so
we were fain to leave it in peace. Now and again, too, we would hear
the roar of a lion hard by, but this was seldom, for there were few
lions among the mountains. They preferred to hunt for their game in the
lower country, where it was larger and better, and, indeed, our armies
were wont to provide them with not a little prey."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

TO DOOM.

"For ten days longer we wandered through the mountains, and, in truth,
it seemed that we were but getting deeper and deeper into them, for we
knew not the way, and often our wanderings would bring us into a closed
defile, which meant perhaps a whole day's journey thrown away, for we
would have to retrace our steps. Still no sign did we see of the
presence of man, no sign of that tribe which was waiting to hail me as
chief.

"And now, as the days sped on, the gloom of the mountains, the iron
solitude in which we moved, began to tell upon us. At first, with the
excitement of our flight stirring our blood, we laughed, and sang, and
loved, and were happy as children. But as the days went by we grew more
client. We began to think of the life and cheeriness of Ekupumuleni, of
our dances and fun, of our laughter from morning till night. I, too,
thought of the fierce excitement of the war-dance, of the mad shock and
joy of battle, of my comrades in arms whom I delighted to rival in the
field, of the King, who had ever shown me favour, whom, in spite of my
soreness and anger, I still loved with a loyal affection, and whom I