d his people by witchcraft; and if we died
and he tried to steal the rifles I would come and haunt him and turn
his cattle mad and his milk sour till life was a weariness, and would
make the devils in the guns come out and talk to him in a way he did
not like, and generally gave him a good idea of judgment to come. After
that he promised to look after them as though they were his father's
spirit. He was a very superstitious old Kafir and a great villain.

Having thus disposed of our superfluous gear we arranged the kit we
five--Sir Henry, Good, myself, Umbopa, and the Hottentot
Ventvoegel--were to take with us on our journey. It was small enough,
but do what we would we could not get its weight down under about forty
pounds a man. This is what it consisted of:--

The three express rifles and two hundred rounds of ammunition.

The two Winchester repeating rifles (for Umbopa and Ventvoegel), with
two hundred rounds of cartridge.

Five Cochrane's water-bottles, each holding four pints.

Five blankets.

Twenty-five pounds' weight of biltong--i.e. sun-dried game flesh.

Ten pounds' weight of best mixed beads for gifts.

A selection of medicine, including an ounce of quinine, and one or two
small surgical instruments.

Our knives, a few sundries, such as a compass, matches, a pocket
filter, tobacco, a trowel, a bottle of brandy, and the clothes we stood
in.

This was our total equipment, a small one indeed for such a venture,
but we dared not attempt to carry more. Indeed, that load was a heavy
one per man with which to travel across the burning desert, for in such
places every additional ounce tells. But we could not see our way to
reducing the weight. There was nothing taken but what was absolutely
necessary.

With great difficulty, and by the promise of a present of a good
hunting-knife each, I succeeded in persuading three wretched natives
from the village to come with us for the first stage, twenty miles, and
to carry a large gourd holding a gallon of water apiece. My object was
to enable us to refill our water-bottles after the first night's march,
for we determined to start in the cool of the evening. I gave out to
these natives that we were going to shoot ostriches, with which the
desert abounded. They jabbered and shrugged their shoulders, saying
that we were mad and should perish of thirst, which I must say seemed
probable; but being desirous of obtaining the knives, which were almost
unknown treasures