favourite prey,--the quaggas, the gemsboks, and the
elands,--were sure indications that the king of beasts was not far off.

Not much work was done that day. The heavy labour of curing the
biltongue, that had occupied them the whole of the preceding day, and
their disturbed rest, had rendered them all listless; and neither Von
Bloom nor the others had any inclination for work. So they moved around
the camp and did very little.

Swartboy took his elephant's feet from the oven, and cleaned them; and
also let down the biltongue and arranged it so as to be better exposed
to the sun. Von Bloom himself shot the three remaining horses, having
driven them to a good distance from the camp. He did this to put an end
to the suffering of the poor brutes,--for it was plain to every one that
they could survive but a day or two longer; and to send a bullet through
the heart of each was an act of mercy to them.

Out of all the live-stock of the field-cornet, the cow alone remained,
and she was now tended with the greatest care. Without the precious
milk, which she yielded in such quantity, their diet would have been
savage enough; and they fully appreciated the service she rendered them.
Each day she was driven out to the best pasture, and at night shut up
in a safe kraal of wait-a-bit thorns, that had been built for her at a
little distance from the tree. These thorns had been placed in such a
manner that their shanks all radiated inward, while the bushy tops were
turned out, forming a _chevaux-de-frise_, that scarce any animal would
have attempted to get through. Such a fence will turn even the lion,
unless when he has been rendered fierce and reckless by provocation.

Of course a gap had been left for the cow to pass in and out, and this
was closed by one immense bush, which served all the purpose of a gate.
Such was the kraal of "old Graaf." Besides the cow, the only living
thing that remained in camp was Truey's little pet, the fawn of the
gazelle.

But on that very day another pet was added, a dear little creature, not
less beautiful than the springbok, and of still more diminutive
proportions. That was the fawn of an "ourebi,"--one of the elegant
little antelopes that are found in such variety over the plains and in
the "bush" of Southern Africa.

It was to Hendrik they were indebted not only for this pet, but for a
dinner of delicate venison, which they had that day eaten, and which all
of them, except Swartboy,