range was going on. It was like the woods on the Berg a
week before. I had the impression of many people moving in the bush,
and now and then I caught a glimpse of them. My first thought was that
I should be stopped, but soon it appeared that these folk had business
of their own which did not concern me. I was conscious of being
watched, yet it was clear that the bush folk were not there for the
purpose of watching me.

For a little I kept my spirits, but as the hours passed with the same
uncanny hurrying to and fro all about me my nerves began to suffer.
Weeks of espionage at Blaauwildebeestefontein had made me jumpy. These
people apparently meant me no ill, and had no time to spare on me, But
the sensation of moving through them was like walking on a black-dark
night with precipices all around. I felt odd quiverings between my
shoulder blades where a spear might be expected to lodge. Overhead was
a great blue sky and a blazing sun, and I could see the path running
clear before me between the walls of scrub. But it was like midnight
to me, a midnight of suspicion and unknown perils. I began to wish
heartily I had never come.

I stopped for my midday meal at a place called Taqui, a grassy glade in
the bush where a tiny spring of water crept out from below a big stone,
only to disappear in the sand. Here I sat and smoked for half an hour,
wondering what was going to become of me. The air was very still, but
I could hear the rustle of movement somewhere within a hundred yards.
The hidden folk were busy about their own ends, and I regretted that I
had not taken the road by Sikitola's and seen how the kraals looked.
They must be empty now, for the young men were already out on some
mission. So nervous I got that I took my pocket-book and wrote down
certain messages to my mother, which I implored whoever should find my
body to transmit. Then, a little ashamed of my childishness, I pulled
myself together, and remounted.

About three in the afternoon I came over a low ridge of bush and saw
the corrugated iron roof of the store and the gleam of water from the
Labongo. The sight encouraged me, for at any rate it meant the end of
this disquieting ride. Here the bush changed to trees of some size,
and after leaving the ridge the road plunged for a little into a thick
shade. I had forgotten for a moment the folk in the bush, and when a
man stepped out of the thicket I pulled up my horse with a start.

It was a tal