s language, that Begum and
he had come to the cleft, and had discovered that there was water at the
bottom of it; that Begum had gone down, and that he was following, when
the baboons, which drank in the chasm, had come upon them. Begum had
sprung up and escaped, but he could not; and that the animals had
followed him down, until he was so jammed in the cleft that he could
descend no further; and that there they had pulled out his hair and torn
his shirt, as they saw. Having heard Omrah's story, and satisfied
themselves that he had received no serious injury, they then went to
where the baboons had been shot. Two were dead; but the old one, which
the Major had fired at, was alive, although severely wounded, having
received two shots, one in his arm and the other in his leg, which was
broken by the ball. All the poor old creature's fierceness appeared to
have left him. It was evidently very weak from the loss of blood, and
sat down leaning against the rock. Every now and then it would raise
itself, and look down upon the wound in its leg, examining the hole
where the bullet had passed through; then it would hold up its wounded
arm with its other hand, and look them in the face inquiringly, as much
as to say, "What have you done this for?"

"Poor creature," said Alexander; "how much its motions are those of a
human being. Its mute expostulation is quite painful to witness."

"Very true," said the Major; "but still, if it had not those wounds, it
would tear you to pieces if it could."

"That it certainly would," said Swinton; "but still it is an object of
pity. It can not recover, and we had better put it out of its misery."

Desiring Bremen to shoot the animal through the head, our travelers then
walked back to the caravan. As they returned by the banks of the river,
they perceived Begum very busy, scraping up the baked mud at the bottom
of a pool.

"What is the princess about?" said Alexander.

"I know," cried Omrah, who immediately ran to the assistance of the
baboon; and after a little more scraping, he pulled out a live tortoise
about a foot long.

"I have heard that when the pools dry up, the tortoises remain in the
mud till the pools are filled up again," said Swinton.

"Are they good eating, Swinton?"

"Excellent."

"Turtle soup in the desert, that's something unexpected."

The Hottentots now set to work and discovered five or six more, which
they brought out. They then tried in vain to get at the wate