re him for some hundreds of miles.

Contrary to his expectations, there appeared to be but one man in charge
of them; and that, neither of the two he had seen the evening before at
Van Ormon's. The men he had been tracking must have visited the camp
and gone off again. Their absence was but of little consequence. The
giraffes were there, and that was all he wanted. He could now go back
and guide the real owners to the spot, who would then be able to reclaim
their property. Had the two men he had traced to the camp been seated
by the fire, he would no doubt have succeeded in accomplishing his
plans. But unfortunately they were not.

After noting the topography of the place, so that he might easily
recognise it, he turned to depart.

Before proceeding twenty paces on his way, he was startled by the report
of a gun. The sound was followed by a howl of pain, which he knew came
from the hound Spoor'em. At the same instant, trotting out from some
bushes on the brow of the hill, he saw two mounted men. One glance told
him they were the men he had seen the evening before it the house of Van
Ormon. They were those on whose track he had come. Crouching among the
bushes, he endeavoured to avoid being seen; but in this he was
unsuccessful.

A shout from one of the men told him that he was discovered, and soon
after the hoof-strokes of the galloping horse told that they were
rapidly approaching his hiding-place. Though swift of foot, there was
no chance for him to escape; for all that, instinct led him to take to
his heels. For some distance down hill, which was very steep, he was
able to keep in advance of his mounted pursuers. But once on the level
ground, the horsemen soon closed upon him, and the chase was brought to
an abrupt termination by one of them striking him from behind with the
butt of his gun, and rolling him flat upon his face.

CHAPTER SEVENTY.

CONGO A CAPTIVE.

The horsemen pulled up with a shout of exultation.

"What did you stop for?" asked the one who had struck the blow. "Why
didn't you keep on running?" he added with a fiendish laugh, as he
leaned over the prostrate body of the Kaffir.

"Yaas, why don't yer go on to tell where der two cameels be, to der
fools whom found um?" asked the other. "Why don't yer do datch?"

The two men who were addressing the half-unconscious Congo were the same
two Willem, Arend, and Hendrik had met the day before,--the men who had
directed them to s