"Well; I was thinking so myself, Swinton, as I looked at the map
yesterday, when I lay in my waggon," said the Major; "so then to-morrow
for a little variety; that is, a desert."

"Which it will most certainly be," replied Swinton; "for, except on the
banks of the large rivers, there are no hopes of vegetation in this
country at this season of the year; but in another month we may expect
heavy falls of rain."

"The Bushmen have left us, I perceive," said Alexander.

"Yes, they have probably remained behind to eat the lion."

"What, will they eat it now that it has been poisoned?"

"That makes no difference to them; they merely cut out the parts
wounded, and invariably eat all the carcasses of the animals which they
kill, and apparently without any injury. There is nothing which a
Bushman will not eat. A flight of locusts is a great feast to him."

"I cannot imagine them to be very palatable food."

"I have never tasted them," replied Swinton; "but I should think not.
They do not, however, eat them raw; they pull off their wings and legs,
and dry their bodies; they then beat them into a powder."

"Do you suppose that St. John's fare of locusts and wild honey was the
locust which we are now referring to?"

"I do not know, but I should rather think not, and for one reason, which
is, that although a person in the wilderness might subsist upon these
animals, if always to be procured, yet the flights of locusts are very
uncertain. Now there is a tree in the country where St. John retired,
which is called the locust-tree, and produces a large sweet bean, shaped
like the common French bean, but nearly a foot long, which is very
palatable and nutritious. It is even now given to cattle in large
quantities; and I imagine that this was the locust referred to; and I
believe many of the commentators on the holy writings have been of the
same opinion. I think we have now gone far enough for to-day; we may as
well halt here. Do you intend to hunt, Major? I see some animals there
at a distance."

"I should say not," said Alexander; "if we are to cross a desert tract
to-morrow, we had better not fatigue our horses."

"Certainly not. No, Swinton, we will remain quiet, unless game comes to
us."

"Yes, and look after our water-kegs being filled, and the fires lighted
to-night," said Alexander; "and I trust we may have no more sermons from
lions, although Shakespeare does say `sermons from stones, and good in
everythi