cattle had still kept
the back-track. To answer this gave no great trouble to the Bushman. He
would drop from his horse, and bending over the ground, would reply in
an instant. In every case the answer was in the affirmative. The animals
had certainly gone back to their old home.

Von Bloom believed they would be sure to find them there, but should
they find them _alive_? That was the question that rendered him anxious.

The creatures could obtain water by the spring, but food--where? Not a
bite would they find anywhere, and would not hunger have destroyed them
all before this?

Day was breaking when they came in sight of the old homestead. It
presented a very odd appearance. Not one of the three would have
recognised it. After the invasion of the locusts it showed a very
altered look, but now there was something else that added to the
singularity of its appearance. A row of strange objects seemed to be
placed upon the roof ridge, and along the walls of the kraals. What were
these strange objects, for they certainly did not belong to the
buildings? This question was put by Von Bloom, partly to himself, but
loud enough for the others to hear him.

"_Da vogels_!" (the vultures), replied Swartboy.

Sure enough, it was a string of vultures that appeared along the walls.

The sight of these filthy birds was more than ominous. It filled Von
Bloom with apprehension. What could they be doing there? There must be
carrion near?

The party rode forward. The day was now up, and the vultures had grown
busy. They flapped their shadowy wings, rose from the walls, and
alighted at different points around the house.

"Surely there must be carrion," muttered Von Bloom.

There was carrion, and plenty of it. As the horsemen drew near the
vultures rose into the air, and a score of half-devoured carcasses could
be seen upon the ground. The long curving horns that appeared beside
each carcass, rendered it easy to tell to what sort of animals they
belonged. In the torn and mutilated fragments, Von Bloom recognised the
remains of his lost herd!

Not one was left alive. There could be seen the remains of all of them,
both cows and oxen, lying near the enclosures and on the adjacent
plain--each where it had fallen.

But how had they fallen? That was the mystery.

Surely they could not have perished of hunger, and so suddenly? They
could not have died of thirst, for there was the spring bubbling up
just beside where they lay? The vu