s go," said Sir Henry in a low voice; "stay, we will give him a
companion," and lifting up the dead body of the Hottentot Ventvoegel, he
placed it near to that of the old Dom. Then he stooped, and with a jerk
broke the rotten string of the crucifix which hung round da Silvestra's
neck, for his fingers were too cold to attempt to unfasten it. I
believe that he has it still. I took the bone pen, and it is before me
as I write--sometimes I use it to sign my name.

Then leaving these two, the proud white man of a past age, and the poor
Hottentot, to keep their eternal vigil in the midst of the eternal
snows, we crept out of the cave into the welcome sunshine and resumed
our path, wondering in our hearts how many hours it would be before we
were even as they are.

When we had walked about half a mile we came to the edge of the
plateau, for the nipple of the mountain does not rise out of its exact
centre, though from the desert side it had seemed to do so. What lay
below us we could not see, for the landscape was wreathed in billows of
morning fog. Presently, however, the higher layers of mist cleared a
little, and revealed, at the end of a long slope of snow, a patch of
green grass, some five hundred yards beneath us, through which a stream
was running. Nor was this all. By the stream, basking in the bright
sun, stood and lay a group of from ten to fifteen _large antelopes_--at
that distance we could not see of what species.

The sight filled us with an unreasoning joy. If only we could get it,
there was food in plenty. But the question was how to do so. The beasts
were fully six hundred yards off, a very long shot, and one not to be
depended on when our lives hung on the results.

Rapidly we discussed the advisability of trying to stalk the game, but
in the end dismissed it reluctantly. To begin with, the wind was not
favourable, and further, we must certainly be perceived, however
careful we were, against the blinding background of snow, which we
should be obliged to traverse.

"Well, we must have a try from where we are," said Sir Henry. "Which
shall it be, Quatermain, the repeating rifles or the expresses?"

Here again was a question. The Winchester repeaters--of which we had
two, Umbopa carrying poor Ventvoegel's as well as his own--were sighted
up to a thousand yards, whereas the expresses were only sighted to
three hundred and fifty, beyond which distance shooting with them was
more or less guess-work. On the ot