snakes said to be much larger than
this one, and I have heard from the Kaffirs of a snake near the coast as
long as a span of oxen; but this I cannot speak to, for I never even saw
the spoor; yet they may grow to a great size. But there are
puff-adders, cobras, ring-hals, and many snakes there, and it is not
good to walk much in very long grass. There are elephants, too, near
the bay, but the bush is very dense, and the elephants are fierce; it
does not do to attempt shooting them there."

"We have a fine country about us," exclaimed Hans, "and now that Panda
is chief of the Zulus we may rejoice at leaving the old colony to come
here. The game was nearly all gone from about there, and the place was
worn out. My father shot elephants near Algoa Bay, and all the game was
to be seen in the colony; but now there is nothing there, though it is
not so far from us. It will be a long time before the elands are driven
away from the plains here, and there are buck in plenty. We can go
after elephants when we choose, and now that we have won our land we may
enjoy it. Good luck to us on our trek, Karls! and I think now we will
sleep, and by and by we may sit up at night to becroup large game; so we
had better sleep now, when it is not so plentiful."

The advice of Hans was relished by all the party, who having directed
two Hottentots to watch, and to call others in succession, the hunters
sought their waggons, and wrapping themselves in their blankets, lay
down to rest in these vehicles, which to the hunter are like a ship to a
sailor.

The camp was soon quiet, the only sounds being the low guttural voices
of the Hottentots, or the low tones of the more harmonious Zulu, as the
Kaffirs talked over the scenes of the past few months, and wondered at
the power of the white man, which had enabled him to break the strength
of the mighty Zulu chieftain who had so long been the terror of those
tribes, which, having either fled from him or from other nations near,
had settled at Natal, had welcomed the arrival of the white man, and had
at once accepted him as an ally: the distant moaning of a wolf, and the
shrill barking cry of the jackal, being the other sounds that plainly
told that the wilderness was around.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

ELEPHANTS FOUND--THE HUNT--THE EVENING AT THE CAMP--AN ELEPHANT
ADVENTURE--ENCOUNTER WITH A KAFFIR SPY--MORE ELEPHANTS--STRANGE MEN--
HANS MADE PRISONER.

During the first few days of their jo