while we took care to replenish our own vessels with an ample supply of water.
As we quitted the village we were greeted by another storm of vituperation, which, as we did not condescend to take any notice of it, became more furious than ever; but so uproarious did the shouting become that the riot unfortunately startled our oxen, and caused them to swerve aside so suddenly that our front axle snapped in two. No more untimely accident could have befallen us, and we involuntarily raised a cry of dismay. I congratulated myself most thoroughly on not having come into overt collision with the people, for, in spite of their being cowards and the worst of marksmen, they might, by a stray shot from their old muskets, have done us a very serious mischief; moreover, to have come to grief amongst the Barolongs or Makalahari would have been a very different thing from finding ourselves helpless in the midst of an infuriated crowd of odious Korannas.
As it was, I relied very much upon the effect of my firmness with regard to the water, and was right in my conjecture that the natives would not try to take advantage of our misadventure. They no sooner saw what had happened than they hurried back from the enclosures to which they had retreated, and began laughing, hooting, and screaming around us; the children danced merrily at the fun. At a hint from me my people, who had been sitting on the front of the waggon with their guns on their knees ready for action, laid them aside, and joined
