ed, till the air looked solid,
and even that glaring sun was blackened by the rushing mass. Birds of
all sorts whirled above, and swooped among them. They peppered Staines
all over like shot. They stuck in his beard, and all over him; they
clogged the bushes, carpeted the ground, while the darkened air sang
as with the whirl of machinery. Every bird in the air, and beast of the
field, granivorous or carnivorous, was gorged with them; and to these
animals was added man, for Staines, being famished, and remembering the
vrow Bulteel, lighted a fire, and roasted a handful or two on a
flat stone; they were delicious. The fire once lighted, they cooked
themselves, for they kept flying into it. Three hours, without
interruption, did they darken nature, and, before the column ceased,
all the beasts of the field came after, gorging them so recklessly, that
Staines could have shot an antelope dead with his pistol within a yard
of him.

But to tell the horrible truth, the cooked locusts were so nice that he
preferred to gorge on them along with the other animals.

He roasted another lot, for future use, and marched on with a good
heart.

But now he got on some rough, scrubby ground, and damaged his shoes, and
tore his trousers.

This lasted a terrible distance; but at the end of it came the usual
arid ground; and at last he came upon the track of wheels and hoofs.
He struck it at an acute angle, and that showed him he had made a good
line. He limped along it a little way, slowly, being footsore.

By and by, looking back, he saw a lot of rough fellows swaggering along
behind him. Then he was alarmed, terribly alarmed, for his diamond; he
tore a strip of his handkerchief, and tied the stone cunningly under his
armpit as he hobbled on.

The men came up with him.

"Hallo, mate! Come from the diggings?"

"Yes."

"What luck?"

"Very good."

"Haw! haw! What! found a fifty-carat? Show it us."

"We found five big stones, my mate and me. He is gone to Cape Town to
sell them. I had no luck when he had left me, so I have cut it; going to
turn farmer. Can you tell me how far it is to Dale's Kloof?"

No, they could not tell him that. They swung on; and, to Staines, their
backs were a cordial, as we say in Scotland.

However, his travels were near an end. Next morning he saw Dale's Kloof
in the distance; and as soon as the heat moderated, he pushed on,
with one shoe and tattered trousers; and half an hour before sunset he
hob