, if the honey
be in a hollow tree, or in a cleft of the rock, or such a locality, to
pay no attention to the buzzing of the bees, or to attempt in any way to
knock them away, should they settle on you, but to slowly insert the
hand into the nest, and withdraw the honeycomb and carry it away. It
rarely happens that the bees attack any one, and should they do so their
sting is far less painful than is that of the English bee. [Having
taken many bees' nests in Africa, we were but once attacked by the bees.
This took place in consequence of accidentally squeezing a bee between
our hand and the tree in which was its honey; the little creature gave a
sharp, angry buzz, which seemed the signal for attack, as about twenty
bees flew on our head, and several on the face; they all stung, the
majority leaving their stings in, but in less than five minutes all the
smarting had gone away. One sting from an English red-hipped humble bee
is worse than twenty African bees' stings.]

Hans procured a large heap of honeycomb, with which he proceeded to the
caves. He knew that the time might come when they could not leave the
caves, and thus, to collect any thing that might serve for food was a
proceeding not to be neglected; and honey, though not very substantial,
was yet food which made a change from mere flesh. What Hans hoped to
get were some rock rabbits, the daas of the Dutch, and the coney of
Scripture. These little creatures, not much bigger than a common
rabbit, are usually found among rocks, and are very good eating; they
are, however, very watchful, and require an expert shot to be able to
hit them, for they rarely allow a hunter to approach nearer than one
hundred yards to them.

Hans found that the kloofs were full of game. There were guinea-fowl
and pheasants in abundance, whilst buck of various kinds had left so
many footmarks, that it was evident they abounded in the neighbourhood.
He soon discovered the traces of rock rabbits, and with the help of the
broad blade of the Kaffir's assagy he was able to dig out four of these
creatures.

Thus provided with food he returned to the caves, and observing that the
wood which had been collected was all more or less damp, he at once
decided that cooking must be left till the night. "You see, Victor, if
we made a fire now, the smoke could be seen for miles, and would thus
guide an enemy to us. There is no possible means of preventing this
smoke from ascending, so we must n