rews might be hired, and
within easy paddling distance of which there was a spot where
hippopotami still abounded, affording a prospect of good sport, of which
Grosvenor was particularly anxious to avail himself. Accordingly, while
the Hottentot Jantje, and 'Nkuku, the Kafir voorlouper, remained in
charge of the wagon and oxen, Ramoo Samee, the groom, accompanied his
masters to the native village, to look after the horses and attend to
the cooking while his employers shot hippopotami and crocodiles from the
two canoes which they chartered; Mafuta, meanwhile, taking four days'
rations, and going off upon a prospecting expedition in search of
elephant and buffalo. Three days at this village sufficed to provide
the hunters with more trophies than they cared to encumber themselves
with, while the natives enjoyed a record feast of hippopotamus flesh;
and on the fourth morning Dick and Grosvenor returned on horseback to
the wagon, while Ramoo Samee, in charge of the spoils, was conveyed down
the river to the same spot in a canoe manned by the grateful natives.
They found the cattle all right, and visibly improved by their three
days' rest, while Leo, the lion cub, welcomed Dick's return with almost
embarrassing demonstrations of affection. Late that same evening Mafuta
also returned, with the intelligence that although he had not actually
seen either elephants or buffaloes, he had obtained, from natives whom
he had encountered, intelligence of a large herd of the former at a
distance of four days' trek from the river. He also reported the
natives to be quite friendly disposed and willing to allow the white men
to traverse their particular section of country. Everything thus
appearing favourable, on the following morning the oxen were once more
inspanned, and the journey resumed.

Then ensued a long trek extending over a period of more than two months,
including a day's halt here and there to rest the oxen, or to indulge in
a little hunting, during which they enjoyed excellent sport among
elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, giraffe, veldebeeste, zebra,
ostriches, and the various species of buck to be found in the southern
portion of the great African Continent; so rapidly, indeed, did their
spoils accumulate that at length they could no longer find room for them
in the wagon, and were glad to avail themselves of the opportunity
afforded by their arrival at a particularly friendly village to leave
everything of the kind