could not be seen from the caravan, although they were not half a mile
off. Towards dusk, when it was time to drive them in and tie them up to
the waggons, it was found that the cattle-keepers, who had been in
company with the Bush-women, had neglected their charge, and they were
not to be found.

The keepers came running in, stating that a lion had scared the cattle,
and that the animals had galloped off to a great distance. But Omrah,
who had gone to where the cattle had been feeding, returned to the camp
and told Swinton that it was not lions but Bushmen who had stolen them;
and, bringing the horses ready saddled to the Major and Alexander, said,
that if they did not follow them immediately, the cattle would be all
killed. It was also observed that the Bush-women had all disappeared.

Swinton, who was well aware of the customs of the Bushmen, immediately
proposed that they should mount as many as they could, and go in chase,
as there was not an hour to be lost. In half an hour a party,
consisting of our three travellers, Bremen, Omrah, and three of the most
trusty of the Hottentots, who were all that they could mount, set off in
the direction which they knew must have been taken, so as to conceal the
cattle from the sight of those in the caravan; and it being a fine
moonlight night, the keen eyes of Omrah tracked them for more than five
miles, where they were at fault, as the traces of their hoofs were no
longer to be seen.

"What shall we do now?" said the Major.

"We must trust to Omrah," replied Swinton; "he knows the habits of his
people well; and they will not deceive him."

Omrah, who had been very busy kneeling on the ground and striking a
light every now and then with a flint and steel, to ascertain the track
more distinctly, now came up and made them comprehend that the Bushmen
had turned back upon the very track they had gone upon, and that they
must return and find where they diverged from it again.

This created considerable delay, as they had to walk the horses back for
more than a mile, when they again found the footing of the cattle
diverging from the track to the southward and eastward, in the direction
of some hills.

They now made all the haste that they could, and proceeded so rapidly on
the track, that in about an hour they perceived the whole herd of oxen
driven up the side of a hill by a party of Bushmen. They put spurs to
their horses and galloped as fast they could in pursuit, and