f the deck, I found near me a
topmast, which had probably been carried away and cut adrift from some
craft ahead of us. I clung on to it, and was picked up a day or two
afterwards by a vessel which had to touch at Walfish Bay on her way to
the Cape. Finding a party settled there on a whaling speculation, I
agreed to remain. However, after some time, as few whales were to be
caught, I determined to go on to the Cape. Just as I was about to sail,
I received an invitation from a gentleman--Mr Ramsay--about to start
into the interior on a hunting and trading expedition, to accompany him
as an assistant. The life he proposed to lead was a new one to me; but
I had had enough of salt water, and after a little consideration
accepted it. Who should arrive directly afterwards but our friends
here, who, after having been cast on shore and gone through all sorts of
adventures as they travelled down the coast from the north, had at
length reached Walfish Bay. But they will give you an account of
themselves. Do not ask, though, about their poor sister," he whispered.
"She is gone! Died soon after they landed; and that wretched fellow
Kydd, he was washed off the raft in passing through the surf. These
three young men alone remained, with scarce a rag on their backs, and
not a sixpence in the world. They were therefore very glad to accept
the offer made to them by my friend, to assist him in shooting
elephants, and rhinoceroses, and other game. From what I have seen of
them, they are better suited to that sort of work than the steady
business of a colonist. We have now been out six months, and are on the
point of turning westward; indeed, had the buffaloes not led us in this
direction, we should not have come further to the east. The prospect of
the desert is not over-inviting, and for my part, I have had enough of
hunting. I have run a narrow chance of being killed a score of times by
lions and elephants, not to speak of rhinoceroses and buffaloes, hyenas
and snakes, and I do not know what other creatures. When my engagement
is over, I have made up my mind not to accept another of the same sort,
but to stick to the sea as long as I am fit for work, or till I can save
enough to enable me to settle down in a snug cottage in old England."

After the hint I had received from my friend Gritton, I forebore to make
too minute inquiries of the Rowleys as to their adventures. Terence
O'Brien, however, gave me most of the partic