Gerard, always observant, and now keenly
thirsting for experience, noted every detail--how there was a regular
routine even in this apparently happy-go-lucky species of travel; how
when the oxen were turned out to graze, the "driver" set to work to
build the fire, while the "leader" took the bucket and went away to
fetch water from the nearest stream or water-hole; how the natives
received their daily ration of Indian corn meal, subsequently to be made
into a thick stir-about and eaten piping hot from the three-legged pot
in which it was cooked. He noted, too, with considerable satisfaction,
how Dawes produced from a locker a goodly supply of raw mutton-chops,
which were set to frizzle on the fire against the time they should have
returned from their swim, which with the remainder of last night's loaf
and a steaming kettle of strong black coffee, made up the most succulent
breakfast he thought he had ever eaten in his life, so thorough an
appetiser is open air, and novelty, and travel. And then, after a long
lie-by and a nap in the heat of the day, he begged to be allowed to bear
a hand in the process of inspanning, and felt as proud as Punch when he
found himself holding a couple of _reims_, at the end of which were as
many big black oxen, even though he had but a confused idea as to what
he should do with them. Still, he was doing something, and that was
what he wanted to realise.

And then, again, when they were on the move, he induced Dawes to
initiate him into the mysteries of waggon-driving. These, as that
worthy explained, did not consist, as many stupid Kafirs and some
stupider white men seemed to think, in running alongside of the span and
flourishing the whip, and frantically yelling and slashing away
indiscriminately. A good driver, with an average well-broken span, need
hardly yell inordinately, or use the whip at all. Each ox would
instinctively start forward at the sound of its own name, and if it grew
slack or negligent a touch with the _voerslag_ [the cutting, tapering
end of the lash.] was sufficient. A clever driver could put his
_voerslag_ as deftly and surely as a trout-fisher could his fly--at
least, as to the latter, so he had heard, added Dawes; for he had never
been in England himself--and, of course, had never seen trout fishing.
But Gerard, who was a very fair fly-fisher, saw the point at once, and
soon came to handle the whip in such fashion as to show promise of
eventually becoming as