ing. Moreover, we know they are not south,
for that is the way those false guides wanted us to take."

Too excited to return to camp without doing something, Willem proposed
that they should ride out on the plain towards the north-east, and see
whether anything could be learned about Congo. To this Hendrik agreed;
and, after going southward about a mile from Van Ormon's house, they
turned, rode circuitously around it, and then struck off for the
north-east.

They had no great hope of finding the object of their search, but it was
necessary for them to do something; and, as Hendrik's surmise was not
without some probability, they kept on.

After making about five miles across the plain, they came within sight
of some hills that began to loom up on the horizon to the north-east.
They were still, to all appearance, about four miles distant.

"Just the place where our property might be concealed," suggested
Hendrik. "No one would hide giraffes on a plain. If we do not find
them yonder, and this very night, we deserve to lose them."

The sun was just setting as they reached the crest of the first range of
hills. Looking back over the road they had just travelled, a horseman
was seen coming across the plain, a mile distant from the spot where
they had halted.

"If we watch that man," said Hendrik, "and not let him see us, we shall
probably find what we're in search of. If not one of the thieves
themselves, he looks to me very like a messenger going to them from Van
Ormon's. From the behaviour of the boer, I'm now convinced that our
giraffes have been stolen, and Van Ormon himself is the thief."

Riding in among some trees, they dismounted, and, securing their horses
in the cover, watched the man who was approaching from the plain.

In the twilight, they saw him toil slowly up the slope, a little to the
east of them, and then continue his course over the summit of the ridge,
going on toward the next.

The night was now so dark that he could not be kept in sight without
their riding very near to him. In this there would be danger. The
hoof-strokes of their horses might be heard. To avoid this they
permitted him to keep far in the advance, and rode slowly and
noiselessly after, trusting to chance to conduct them upon his track.

Fortune favoured them.

On mounting a hill about half a mile from the place where they had last
seen the lone horseman, they came in sight of a camp-fire that appeared
burning in t