hem for the journey of the following night; having
volunteered to watch first, Hans requested his companions to go to
sleep, a request with which every thoroughly trained hunter should be
able to comply; for he should always eat, drink, and sleep when he can,
for when he wants to perhaps he may not be able. And when a hunter has
nothing to do, he should sleep, for then he will be ready to dispense
with his rest when it may be of importance that he should be watchful.

In a very few minutes Victor and Bernhard were snoring as though they
were sleeping on a down bed instead of on the ground in an enemy's
country, whilst the horses were making the best use of their time by
filling themselves with the sweet grass in the ravine.

Hans had not been on watch more than an hour, when by the aid of his
telescope he discovered a large body of Matabili who were following the
spoor of his horses, and seemed as though bent on pursuing him. This
sight caused him considerable anxiety, not on account of the numbers of
his enemies, but because a fight with them, or a retreat from them,
would defeat his plans for liberating Katrine. Hans therefore watched
his enemies with the greatest interest, and could distinguish them
distinctly, though they were distant nearly three miles. They
approached to within two miles, and he was about to awaken his
companions when he noticed the Matabili halted, and the chiefs' seemed
to be talking about the spoor, as they pointed to the ground several
times and then at different parts of the surrounding country. The
ground was so hard and the dew had fallen so heavily immediately before
sunrise, that Hans hoped the hesitation on the part of his enemies might
be in consequence of a dispute or difference of opinion as regarded the
date of the horses' footprints; for the probability was, that those left
by his own and his companions' horses might be supposed to be those of
stragglers of the expedition which had attacked the Matabili at Mosega.
This he believed to be the case when he found that the numerous body of
enemies, after a long consultation, quitted his spoor and turned away
towards the West, moving with rapidity in the direction in which the
main body of the Boers had retreated, and thus almost taking his back
trail, instead of following him to his retreat. Several other small
parties of armed Matabili were seen during the day; but none approached
the ravine in which Hans was concealed, and the da