.

"Blockhead! what d'you mean by _that_?" growled George Dally, turning
round sleepily, but without rising, for he was well aware of the cause
of the confusion.

Jerry shrank within himself like a guilty thing caught in the act, and
glanced uneasily round to ascertain how much of death and destruction
had been dealt out. Relieved somewhat to see no one writhing in blood,
he arose, and, in much confusion, replied to the numerous eager queries
as to what he had fired at. When the true state of affairs became
manifest, most of the Dutchmen, who had been active enough when aroused
by supposed danger, sauntered back to their couches with a good-natured
chuckle; the settlers who had "turned out" growled or chaffed, according
to temperament, as they followed suit, and the natives spent half an
hour in uproarious merriment over Booby's dramatic representation of the
whole incident, which he performed with graphic power and much
embellishment.

Thereafter the camp sank once more into repose, and rested in peace till
morning.

CHAPTER SIX.

SPREADING OVER THE LAND.

With the dawn next morning the emigrants were up and away. The interest
of the journey increased with every novel experience and each new
discovery, while preconceived notions and depressions were dissipated by
the improved appearance of the country.

About the same time that the Scotch "party" left the Bay, several of the
other parties set out, some large and some small, each under its
appointed leader, to colonise the undulating plains of the Zuurveld.

Soon the pilgrims became accustomed to the nightly serenade of hyena and
jackal--also to breakneck steeps, and crashing jolts, and ugly tumbles.
But they were all hopeful, and most of them were young, and all, or
nearly all, were disposed to make light of difficulties.

The country they were about to colonise had been recently overrun by
Kafir hordes. These had been cleared out, and driven across the Great
Fish River by British and Colonial troops, leaving the land a
wilderness, with none to dispute possession save the wild beasts. It
extended fifty miles along the coast from the Bushman's River to the
Great Fish River, and was backed by an irregular line of mountains at an
average distance of sixty miles from the sea.

Leaving the Zwartkops River, not only the Scottish party, but all the
other parties, filed successively away in long trains across the Sundays
River, over the Addo Hill and the