tood about in the middle of the township, and which had a very
high stoep, I noticed that the streets were full of game spoors. I
spoke of this to the storekeeper.

"Oh, yes," he replied, "the game comes in here every night. Look
there."

I glanced in the direction indicated. Just beyond the outskirts of the
town were herds of wildebeeste, blesbuck, and quagga grazing quietly
about, like so many herds of cattle. But they were not so tame as they
looked, as I found later in the day, when I went towards them with my
rifle.

In passing through the High Veld, as the country to the north-east of
Nazareth was called, I first saw the spoor of a lion. I left the wagon,
which had been obliged to make a very wide detour for the purpose of
avoiding swampy ground, and was making straight across country towards
a point close to which I knew the road passed. On my left was a very
large leegte, a shallow, nearly level valley. For miles of its course
this was filled with swamp, out of which tall reeds grew.

Game was very abundant. I shot several blesbuck and wildebeeste, I am
sorry to say, for the gratification of mere lust of slaughter, as I
could not possibly carry away the meat. In passing over a graveled
ridge I noticed a dried drop of blood. I looked more closely and found
the tracks of some large animal. This I followed, in the direction of
the reeds, until I reached some sandy ground. Then I saw that the track
was undoubtedly that of a lion. The animal had evidently killed during
the previous night and carried the meat to its lair among the reeds.
But this was a mere guess; I did not pursue my investigations.

Next day I left the wagon long before daylight, and started for another
tramp this time along a course I had mapped out the previous afternoon.
It was bitterly and unseasonably cold. There was no wind, but the
hoar-frost lay almost as thick as if a fairly heavy shower of snow had
fallen. I was wearing veldschoens, but had no socks. As I trampled
through the grass the frost spicules from the tussocks I brushed
against filled the spaces between the leather and my feet.

I began to suffer excruciating pain. I thought day would never break.
My feet felt as though they did not belong to me. Soon they ceased to
be painful, but the pain-area had traveled up my legs. Having heard of
frost-bite and its serious effects, I became much alarmed.

Day broke at length. There was so far no game in sight. I thought of
kindling a f