the
watch-fires, he sat down in front of his leader's tent with the
intention of keeping guard during the first part of the night.

CHAPTER TEN.

THE LOCATION ON THE RIVER OF BABOONS.

The Scotch immigrants at last found themselves in the wild
mountain-regions of the interior, after a weary but deeply interesting
march of nearly two hundred miles.

They had now arrived at the mouth of the Baboons or Baviaans river, one
of the affluents of the Great Fish River, and had already seen many of
the wild inhabitants of its rugged glen.

Their particular location was a beautiful well-watered region among the
mountains which had been forfeited by some of the frontier boers at the
time of their insurrection against the English Government some years
before. They had now crossed the Great Fish River, and, though still
within the old boundary of the colony, were upon its utmost eastern
verge. The country beyond, as we are told by Pringle, in his graphic
account of the expedition, [see Note 1] "for a distance of seventy
miles, to the new frontier at the Chumi and Keisi rivers, had been, the
preceding year, forcibly depeopled of its native inhabitants, the Kafirs
and Ghonaquas, and now lay waste and void, `a howling wilderness,'
occupied only by wild beasts, and haunted occasionally by wandering
banditti of the Bushman race (Bosjesmen), who were represented as being
even more wild and savage than the beasts of prey with whom they shared
the dominion of the desert."

Just before their arrival at this point, the old waggons, with the
drivers who had accompanied them from Algoa Bay, were exchanged for
fresh teams and men, and here Ruyter, Jemalee, and Booby left them, to
proceed over a spur of one of the mountain ranges to Jan Smit's farm on
the karroo. But Hans Marais, having taken a fancy to some of the Scotch
men, determined to proceed with them until he had seen them fairly
established in their new homes. Of course Charlie Considine accompanied
Hans.

In a wild spot among the mountains they were hospitably received at the
solitary abode of a field-cornet named Opperman, who said that he had
orders to assist them with an escort of armed boers over the remaining
portion of their journey, and to place them in safety on their allotted
ground. This remaining portion, he told them, was up the Baviaans River
glen, and, although little more than twenty-five miles, would prove to
be harder than any part of the journey they h