serious injury, they then
went to where the baboons had been shot. Two were dead; but the old
one, which the Major had fired at, was alive, although severely wounded,
having received two shots, one in his arm and the other in his leg,
which was broken by the ball. All the poor old creature's fierceness
appeared to have left him. It was evidently very weak from the loss of
blood, and sat down leaning against the rock. Every now and then it
would raise itself, and look down upon the wound in its leg, examining
the hole where the bullet had passed through; then it would hold up its
wounded arm with its other hand, and look them in the face inquiringly,
as much as to say, "What have you done this for?"

"Poor creature," said Alexander; "how much its motions are those of a
human being. Its mute expostulation is quite painful to witness."

"Very true," said the Major; "but still, if it had not those wounds, it
would tear you to pieces if it could."

"That it certainly would," said Swinton; "but still it is an object of
pity. It cannot recover, and we had better put it out of its misery."

Desiring Bremen to shoot the animal through the head, our travellers
then walked back to the caravan. As they returned by the banks of the
river, they perceived Begum very busy, scraping up the baked mud at the
bottom of a pool.

"What is the princess about?" said Alexander.

"I know," cried Omrah, who immediately ran to the assistance of the
baboon; and after a little more scraping, he pulled out a live tortoise
about a foot long.

"I have heard that when the pools dry up, the tortoises remain in the
mud till the pools are filled again," said Swinton.

"Are they good eating, Swinton?"

"Excellent."

"Turtle soup in the desert, that's something unexpected."

The Hottentots now set to work and discovered five or six more, which
they brought out. They then tried in vain to get at the water in the
deep cleft, but finding it impossible, the caravan continued its course.

"How much more of this desert have we to traverse," said Alexander,
"before we come to the river?"

"I fear that we shall not arrive there before to-morrow night," said
Swinton, "unless we travel on during the night, which I think will be
the best plan; for, fatiguing as it will be to the animals, they will be
even more exhausted if they pass another day under the burning sun
without water, and at night they will bear their work better. We gain
nothing