proficient as Dawes himself. True, he managed to
clip himself over the ear two or three times; but then every beginner is
bound to do this, so he didn't mind. On Harry, however, such reverses
produced a different effect. He gave up the whole thing in disgust, and
voted waggon-driving a beastly difficult thing and not at all in his
line. Wherein, again, the diversity of their respective characters came
out.

Now and again they would pass other waggons on the road, either in
motion or outspanned, or would pass through a small township, where John
Dawes would drop behind for half an hour for a glass of grog with a few
of his fellow-craftsmen and a chat at the hotel bar. These would always
extend a frank hand and a hearty greeting to the two young strangers;
for, however rough externally it may occasionally be, the bearing of the
South African colonist towards the newly arrived "Britisher," especially
if the latter be young and inexperienced, is, as a role, all that is
kindly and good-natured. But it was the time of the evening outspan
that these two would enjoy most heartily. Then it was that with the
darkness, and the wide and to them still mysterious _veldt_ stretching
around, with the stars burning bright and clear in the dusky vault
above, and the red glow of the camp-fire shedding a circle of light
which intensified the surrounding gloom--then it was that they realised
that they were indeed "camping out," and no make-believe. And John
Dawes, with his pipe in full blast, made a first-rate camp-fire
companion, for his experiences in his own line had been large and
chequered. He knew every inch of the country for hundreds of miles. He
had been away to the north, past Swaziland, and had tried his luck on
the new gold-fields in the Zoutpansberg. He had made a couple of
trading trips in the Zulu country, and knew many of the Zulu chiefs and
_indunas_. Many a tale and strange incident would he narrate in his own
dry fashion--of flooded rivers and the perils of the road; of whole
spans of oxen laid low in the yoke by one stroke of lightning, or of a
comrade struck down at his side in the same way; of lively ructions with
surly Boers and their retainers, when the latter strove to interfere
with their right of outspan; of critical situations arising out of the
craft and greed of native chieftains, while practically in the power of
lawless and turbulent bands of savages during trading operations--and to
these our tw