ropose that we should pass the
night?"

"Bavian's Pool, Master Nick; three miles from here--beautiful pool,
sweet water, steep rock overhang it, too steep for beasts to climb, not
too steep for us. There we sleep among bushes; animals come down to
drink by moonlight; buffalo, gnu, zebra, giraffe, lion, rhinoceros, all
sorts of beasts--elephant come too--"

"And we can shoot at them from the rock, hey?" interposed Nick.

"No, not shoot from rock. Elephant not come near enough, and light bad;
but we track them when they leave waterside, and get good shot in
morning."

"All right, Kobo. How soon ought we to set out?"

"Three hours past noon, now. Get to pool at five. We start in an hour,
say."

"In an hour; very good. Let us go and say good-bye to Mr De Walden and
Ernest, Frank, and get the guns."

"Done with you," said Frank. "Shall we ask Ernest to come with us? We
have had very little of his company for a long time past, and I think he
would enjoy this. You know how anxious he always was to come upon a
herd of elephants, all the time when we were travelling through the
country where they are said sometimes to be found. He is a good fellow,
and I don't like to lose sight of him so entirely."

"I agree with you, that he is a good fellow," said Nick,--"a deal better
fellow, for the matter of that, than I am. But I am afraid there is not
much chance of his making one of our party. There has been a change in
him ever since that escape of his from the big snake; and since he has
fallen in with Mr De Walden, he has been so taken up with him that he
can think of nothing else. But we can ask him, certainly."

But on reaching the hut they perceived at once that it would be no use
to make any such suggestion--for the present, at all events. The two
friends were on the point of repairing to the house of one of their
converts, who had sent to them a message, entreating their immediate
presence. One of the calamities, which the Bechuanas dreaded beyond all
others, had just befallen him. It had been known for some time past,
that a disease, nearly resembling that which has visited European
countries of late years, was raging among the herds belonging to
neighbouring tribes, and more particularly the Basutos. It was regarded
with the utmost terror by all the races inhabiting Southern Africa, whom
it deprived not only of all their wealth, but of their very means of
subsistence. They were wholly unacquainted