the waggon and go to meet him, but he was immediately at my side. “Help me, help me, intate (friend),” he cried; “I am hungry; my wife, my child, my brother are starving in the woods!” Probably he would have said more, but his keen ear caught the sound of the Masupias singing almost close at hand, and he paused; his face, ordinarily beaming with good nature, became distorted with terror. The excitement of the moment seemed to give me renewed strength. I can hardly tell how I did it, but I leaned back, and catching hold of a sack containing about a bushel of corn that was lying in the waggon, I lifted it into Kapella’s arms. He smiled, and made a hasty gesture of thanks; and before the Masupias had come in sight he had made his way into the long grass towards his retreat.
One of the heaviest storms that I ever remember in South Africa occurred a few days afterwards. It came on suddenly, and so violently that my servants were obliged to throw sand and earth upon the fires, that the wind should not carry the flames into the dry grass; and the downpour of rain was so great, that I had to use all my wraps and extra clothing to protect my collections. The top of the waggon swayed to and fro in the gale; and cumbrous as the vehicle was, it rattled and shook as if it were the plaything of the hurricane. One of the grass-huts was completely overturned, and several others in which my people had sought shelter had their sides blown in, and it was only owing to the lightness of the material of which they were constructed, that no injury was done to life or limb. When the storm had subsided in the evening, they found that it was necessary to build
B b
