ons
should show in the open."

"Yes, sar," answered Jantje, "I understan' you puffekly. You leave
everyt'ing to me, sar; I arrange it all, jus' as you wish. An' I will
come wid you myself, sar, to carry gun. I am a brabe man, sar; no
pusson in dhis worl' more brabe as me; you shall see, sar."

"Very well," answered Dick, suppressing a smile at the Hottentot's
vainglorious boast; "you, being so exceedingly brave and reliable shall
go with Mr Grosvenor; but you must pick me out a good man to come with
me. Just see about it, will you, and bring the whole party to the
wagon, where we are now going to get our rifles."

Puffed up with the honour of having so important a matter confided to
him, the Hottentot saluted, and turned to address the crowd that still
hung about the white men awaiting possible further developments,
explaining to them what was required. A few words sufficed, and the
moment that the white man's intentions and wishes were understood the
crowd dissolved, as if by magic, the men hurrying away to their huts to
procure their weapons, while Dick and Grosvenor sauntered away toward
the wagon, noting, as they went, that their team of oxen had been driven
to a spot where the grass was especially good, close to the banks of the
river, and that it was being zealously watched and guarded by a dozen
well-grown lads armed with hunting assagais and knobkerries.

Arrived at the wagon, the two friends proceeded to bring forth and don
their bandoliers, having first satisfied themselves that the belts were
filled with the kind of cartridge required for the particular pattern of
weapon which they were about to employ; and then, having taken down and
loaded the four rifles which they intended to use, they awaited the
arrival of the beating party, conscious now, for the first time, of a
peculiar and not altogether pleasant feeling compounded of excitement
and--was it "funk"? No, certainly not, for neither of them would have
backed out of the adventure on any account; yet, if the sensation was
not "funk", it bore some sort of family resemblance to it, something
perhaps, in the nature of stage fright. The fact is that each realised,
at nearly the same moment, that they were about to embark upon a
perfectly new experience, an adventure in which they were as yet
untried, in which courage and the most perfect _sangfroid_ were of the
utmost importance, and they were by no means certain how they would
emerge from the orde