loneliness by sending away his dumb friend, one
who would have instantly given him warning of the approach of danger.

Once more Dyke went through a mental battle. He was mastering the
strong desire to call back the dog, and forcing himself to take out his
knife and use it as a bill-hook to cut a quantity of the dry, short
bush, piling it up until he had enough to make a fire. This he started,
and felt better, for the flame and smoke would keep off animals, show
where he was, and cook his dinner, about which he had begun to think
eagerly, as well as of his position.

"I wonder whether other fellows of my age are so ready to take fright at
everything. It's so stupid, just because the place is open and lonely.
Fancy wanting to keep Duke back when he is pretty well sure to find my
cartridge pouch, and bring it here. It's a good job no one knows what
we feel sometimes. If any one did, how stupid we should look."

The fire burned briskly, with the white smoke rising steadily up in the
still air, as, after trying whether the edge of his sheath-knife had
been blunted by cutting the bush wood, he attacked the great antelope to
secure a good steak to broil.

"Plenty to cut at," he said with a laugh; and his mouth watered now at
the thought of the juicy frizzle he could make on the glowing embers,
which would soon be ready for his purpose. But he went to work
judiciously. His experience in the lonely, wild country had taught him
a little of the hunter's craft, and he knew the value of the magnificent
skin which covered the eland; so making certain cuts, he drew back the
hide till a sufficiency of the haunch was bared, and after cutting a
pair of skewer-like pieces from a bush, he carved a good juicy steak,
inserted his skewers, spread out the meat, and stuck the sharper ends of
the pieces of wood in the sand, so that the steak was close to, and well
exposed to the glow. Then leaving it to roast, Dyke carefully drew the
skin back into its place and set to work washing his hands.

Only a dry wash in the soft reddish sand, but wonderfully cleansing when
repeated two or three times, and very delightful as a make-shift, where
there is no water.

By the time Dyke's hands were presentable, and he had piled-up some more
bush where the fire had burned into a hole, the meat began to sputter,
and drops of fat to drip in the hot embers, producing odours so
attractive to a hungry lad, to whom fresh meat was a luxury, that Dyke's