they knew it, almost literally streaming down,
and soaking everything; but in spite of the discomfort it was delightful
to see the thirsty oxen stop to drink with avidity from the great pools
that the rain soon formed. In fact, the storm was so cooling and
refreshing that Chicory seemed to revel in it, his dark skin shining
with moisture; and the boys themselves did not seem to mind getting wet;
but as the night came on intensely dark, and in addition to the pitiless
rain there set in a tremendous thunderstorm, with deafening peals, and
vivid lightning cutting the black clouds in all directions, the position
of the travellers began to get uncomfortable.

The General promised a good halting-place further on; but the darkness
grew so intense that the foremost oxen had to be led, and Mr Rogers,
and the General, armed with a long pole, went on in advance.

If they could have halted where they were they would gladly have done
so; but it seemed madness to stop in that wretched wilderness, and so
they crept slowly on, drenched, depressed, and miserable, the thunder
deafening them with its peals, and the lightning seeming to crackle as
it fell in jagged lines from the skies.

Even the oxen seemed to participate in the general depression, for they
went on very slowly, step by step, as if helping their leaders to find a
suitable track, so as not to overturn the waggon against some piece of
rock.

Suddenly the General gave a warning cry, one that was echoed by Mr
Rogers, and the bullocks were pulled up short just as they touched the
leaders.

The warning was needed, for as he felt his way onward with the pole the
General had suddenly felt it go down into a rift stretching right across
their road; and as it proved to be bottomless as far as he could tell,
and went to right and left for some distance, there was nothing to be
done but to camp just as they were, and wait through the cold wet night
for morning.

It was a pitiless and a bitter night, and those who believe in Africa
being a land of intense heat would have felt their preconceived ideas
shaken had they sat and shivered in that waggon, through whose double
tilt covering the wind seemed to pierce as though it was so much open
canvas. Far worse was it beneath, where, sheltering themselves as best
they could, the black servants, Dinny, and the Zulus huddled together
for mutual warmth. Even the dogs refused to be excluded, and, in spite
of Dinny's rather unmerciful k