to get to Maritzburg that night, but was only
able to reach the heights from which that town is visible. We entered
the forest on the left-hand side of the road and camped. After enormous
difficulty we managed to kindle a fire and make some tea. There was
plenty of dead wood lying about, so we made a roaring blaze and sat as
close to it as we could. That night was a miserable one; the rain never
ceased for a moment, so sleep was quite out of the question.

It was still raining when we started next morning. We reached
Maritzburg after a tramp of a couple of hours. I went to an hotel on
the market square, kept by a man named King. He promptly refused to
take me in; this did not surprise me in the least, for I must have been
a sorry object. However, on my explaining the situation and producing
my few remaining shillings, the proprietor relented so far as to let me
have some food and allow me to sleep in a forage store. He nevertheless
insisted on taking away my pipe, tobacco, and matches. He wanted to
lock me in, but this I would not stand. I slept warm and dry, at least,
I was dry when I awoke next morning.

In the afternoon the rain ceased, so I again set out. My capital was
now reduced to one and ninepence. Just before sundown I called at a
farmhouse a few hundred yards from the road and asked for work. Here I
was kindly entertained, and given a corner of an outhouse wherein to
sleep, and some bags and straw wherewith to make a bed. But I insisted
on paying for my entertainment by working. Before darkness fell I
mended a fowl house, and I got up early in the morning and chopped a
lot of firewood.

After a hearty breakfast of delicious bread, butter, and milk I made
another start. But that day I loitered. The sky was bright, the sun
shone mildly, the wind was warm and caressing. I wandered slowly along,
enjoying the incomparable scenery, and feeling that the world, which
had hitherto shown me its rough side, was not such a bad place after
all. I began seriously to regard the universe from the standpoint of a
professional tramp to realize that there is something to be said for
the philosophy of the unmitigated vagrant.

At an especially enticing spot I turned out of the road and strolled
for a while along the bank of a stream. I stripped and plunged into a
swirling pool. Then I washed my entire wardrobe and spread it out on
the grass to dry. I lit my pipe, laid myself naked under an erythrina
tree, and praised the go