from his hurt, which I could
see had mortified. From the state of his remains we gathered that the
raiders must be about two days' march ahead of us.

Striking their spoor again on softer ground where the impress of their
feet remained--at any rate to the cunning sight of Hans--we followed
them down across great valleys wherein trees grew sparsely, which
valleys were separated from each other by ridges of high and barren
land. On these belts of rocky soil our difficulties were great, but here
twice we were put on the right track by more fragments torn from the
dress of Inez.

At length we lost the spoor altogether; not a sign of it was to be
found. We had no idea which way to go. All about us appeared these
valleys covered with scattered bush running this way and that, so that
we could not tell which of them to follow or to cross. The thing seemed
hopeless, for how could we expect to find a little body of men in
that immensity? Hans shook his head and even the fierce and steadfast
Robertson was discouraged.

"I fear my poor lassie is gone," he said, and relapsed into brooding as
had become his wont.

"Never say die! It's dogged as does it!" I replied cheerfully in the
words of Nelson, who also had learned what it meant to hunt an enemy
over trackless wastes, although his were of water.

I walked to the top of the rise where we were encamped, and sat down
alone to think matters over. Our condition was somewhat parlous; all
our beasts were now dead, even the second donkey, which was the last of
them, having perished that morning, and been eaten, for food was scanty
since of late we had met with little game. The Strathmuir men, who now
must carry the loads, were almost worn out and doubtless would have
deserted, except for the fact that there was no place to which they
could go. Even the Zulus were discouraged, and said they had come
away from home across the Great River to fight, not to run about in
wildernesses and starve, though Umslopogaas made no complaint, being
buoyed up by the promise of his soothsayer, Goroko, that battle was
ahead of him in which he would win great glory.

Hans, however, remained cheerful, for the reason, as he remarked
vacuously, that the Great Medicine was with us and that therefore,
however bad things seemed to be, all in fact was well; an argument that
carried no conviction to my soul.

It was on a certain evening towards sunset that I went away thus alone.
I looked about me, east an