y enemy approached him, he sat himself down, and began to think how
he could procure some food for himself. To light a fire in order to
cook was too dangerous a proceeding to adopt, and though almost starving
with hunger, yet he could not bring himself to eat raw flesh, and thus
he did not see any means of procuring a supper. For two nights he had
had no sleep, and though the excitement of his escapes had kept him up,
and the water of the river had refreshed him, still nature would not be
denied, and he had not long been seated beneath the tree before he felt
sleep stealing over him.

"I can sleep safely for an hour or two," thought Hans, "and will then
awake, be ready to proceed at daybreak, and shall certainly find some
means of procuring food."

Arranging himself so as to be ready to grasp his gun at a moment's
notice, he turned on his side, and in a very few minutes was fast
asleep, undisturbed by a dream of any kind.

The sun had risen, and was well above the horizon before Hans awoke from
his deep sleep, which he did with a sudden start of alarm, as he
perceived that it was broad daylight. He instantly stretched out his
hand for his gun, but could not find it. Jumping up, he saw that he was
surrounded by a large party of Kaffirs, who, armed with assagies and
shields, had surrounded him. Without a single weapon to defend himself
with, he knew that resistance was useless, and therefore stood calmly
awaiting his fate, which he expected was to be assagied immediately. As
soon as he stood up, however, several of the Kaffirs called as though to
some chief or other person in the distance, and Hans, turning in the
direction in which it appeared the person was whom the Kaffirs had
called, he first saw the smoke of a fire, and even his strong heart
quailed as the thought occurred to him that he was to be roasted alive.
His astonishment, however, was extreme, when he saw four white men
coming towards him, one of whom was decidedly Dutch in his appearance.
"Could these also be prisoners?" was Hans' first thought, "and are we
all to be burnt together?" But seeing that the white men carried their
guns, he was more puzzled than before. He waited till the men came
close to him before he spoke; he then said, "You have caught me asleep;
few men have ever done that before." For an instant the men looked at
one another, and then the stranger, addressing Hans in Dutch, said, "You
must be one of the Mensch, but what, in God'