s you at twenty miles an hour away from the enemy's
capital.

How long I slept I do not know, but I woke up suddenly with all feelings
of exhilaration gone, and only the consciousness of oppressive
difficulties heavy on me. I must leave the train before daybreak, so
that I could drink at a pool and find some hiding-place while it was
still dark. Another night I would board another train. I crawled from my
cosy hiding-place among the sacks and sat again on the couplings. The
train was running at a fair speed, but I felt it was time to leave it. I
took hold of the iron handle at the back of the truck, pulled strongly
with my left hand, and sprang. My feet struck the ground in two gigantic
strides, and the next instant I was sprawling in the ditch, considerably
shaken but unhurt. The train, my faithful ally of the night, hurried on
its journey.

It was still dark. I was in the middle of a wide valley, surrounded by
low hills, and carpeted with high grass drenched in dew. I searched for
water in the nearest gully, and soon found a clear pool. I was very
thirsty, but long after I had quenched my thirst I continued to drink,
that I might have sufficient for the whole day.

Presently the dawn began to break, and the sky to the east grew yellow
and red, slashed across with heavy black clouds. I saw with relief that
the railway ran steadily towards the sunrise. I had taken the right
line, after all.

Having drunk my fill, I set out for the hills, among which I hoped to
find some hiding-place, and as it became broad daylight I entered a
small grove of trees which grew on the side of a deep ravine. Here I
resolved to wait till dusk. I had one consolation: no one in the world
knew where I was--I did not know myself. It was now four o'clock.
Fourteen hours lay between me and the night. My impatience to proceed,
while I was still strong, doubled their length. At first it was terribly
cold, but by degrees the sun gained power, and by ten o'clock the heat
was oppressive. My sole companion was a gigantic vulture, who manifested
an extravagant interest in my condition, and made hideous and ominous
gurglings from time to time. From my lofty position I commanded a view
of the whole valley. A little tin-roofed town lay three miles to the
westward. Scattered farmsteads, each with a clump of trees, relieved the
monotony of the undulating ground. At the foot of the hill stood a
Kaffir kraal, and the figures of its inhabitants dotted the pa