emain where they were until the day
broke.

They all dismounted therefore, and fastened their horses to the bushes--
so that the animals could browse upon the leaves till morning--which
could not now be very far off. They rolled themselves up in their
karosses, and lay down upon the earth.

Hendrik and Swartboy were soon asleep. Von Bloom would have slept too,
for he was tired enough; but the heart of the father was too full of
anxiety to allow repose to his eyes, and he lay awake watching for the
dawn.

It came at length, and at the first light his eyes swept the surface of
the surrounding country. The party had by chance halted on an eminence
that commanded a good view for miles on each side, but the field-cornet
had not glanced half around the circle, when an object came before his
eyes that brought gladness to his heart. It was the white tent of the
wagon!

The joyful exclamation he uttered awoke the sleepers, who immediately
sprang to their feet; and all three stood gazing at the welcome sight.

As they continued to gaze, their joy gradually gave place to feelings of
surprise. Was it _their_ wagon, after all?

It certainly looked like theirs; but it was a full half-mile off, and at
such a distance one wagon would look just like another. But what led
them to doubt its being theirs? It was the _appearance of the place in
which they saw it_. Surely it was not the same place in which they had
outspanned!

Theirs had been left in an oblong valley between two gentle ridges--in
such a valley was this one standing. Near a small pool formed by a
spring--here, too, was the same, for they could perceive the water
shining. But in all other respects the situation was different. The
surface of the valley in which their wagon had been left was covered,
both sides and bottom, with a verdant carpet of grass; whereas the one
now before their eyes was brown and bare! not a blade of grass was to be
seen--the trees seeming to be the only things that had any verdure.
Even the low bushes appeared to be destitute of leaves! The scene had
no resemblance whatever to that where they had outspanned. It must be
the camp of some other travellers, thought they.

They had fully arrived at this conclusion, when Swartboy, whose eyes had
been rolling about everywhere, now rested upon the ground at his feet.
After a moment's observation--which the increasing light now enabled him
to make--he turned suddenly to the others, and d