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Show dried salt fish, the odor of which bad at tracted the sharp scented thieve, and which the brutes were endeavoring to teal, and finally succeeded in doing so by biting off the lashings. Morite would not stop the horses, but whipped thorn up afresh, saying: "Let them have it." George and I, however, used our revolvers, leaving many of them dead in the road behind; but, having secured se-cured the fish, they seemed satisfied, as we could see them in the distance fighting and tearing at each other over the booty. Night came and all was quiet when we outspanned at the close of the day, our bed against the hot sands and our covering cover-ing the dim vault above, studded with stars that looked like points of burnished silver stretching far away, Our third and last day's journey was a most trying one, during which we fully realized what desert traveling may become. be-come. Wo had exhausted our last drop of water the night before, and we awoke with a thirst that seemed then unbearable; unbear-able; but before the day was over we learned that our morning thirst was but a trifling affair. Everything was intensified inten-sified on that day; the sun seemed fiercer, the heat greater, the desert drier and the sky more defiant; in fact, we seemed to be journeying deeper and deeper into a furnace whose fires forbade a further approach, and when we halted for the noonday rest both man and beast were utterly exhausted. the wagonpole. The singular sensation of lying in this noiseless desert drove sleep from my eyes, and I lay awake a long time after Oeorgo Meadows had fallen asleep. Suddenly there came into the dead silence a long, sharp, piercing cry, answered by another in the opposite direction, equally distant; these were the crios of jackals. Then came the bark of a wolf, answered by a chorus, and Meadows suddenly rose into a sitting position. "The brutes are coming!" he exclaimed. Instantly a hundred hun-dred throats seemed to be baying into the darkness, drawing nearer and nearer, until we could see, surrounding us like a circle of fire, the scintillation of red eyes. Tho scene was now become one of startling start-ling reality all about us the dense darkness, dark-ness, lighted only, and in a manner made more ' perceptible, by the rays of the glowing brushwood embers; in all directions direc-tions about us the glare of shiningAves, and now the brutes came so near that we could hear the angry snarls and the snapping of their jaws. George Meadows rose and threw fresh fuel on the fire; the flame that crackled and flashed up brought into view the shaggy forms of. the gray wolves, the striped hyenas, behiu'd them, again, the jackals; and tho horses, realizing that their deadly enemies were close at hand, gavo low whinnies, as though calling upon us for protection. The Morits brothers were up, and, together with ourselves, opened fire upon tho animals, shooting at the shifting masses where they seemed thickest, answered by howls and cries of rage as our bullets tore their way into the restless groups. For an hour or more the animals skulked around; the rots ' tracks of the desert, where, as far as we knew, , no rain had fallen. I cannot tell; I only know that it was there and that it saved our lives. fire was made, and the kettle set on Jt; we knew we had the water and could wait. It was boiled, to free it from impurities and germs it might contain,! and then, when properly heated, we again strained it through a handkerchief, afterward pouring it all into a porous pitcher we had with us, and, incasing that again with a strip of wet flannel, we placed the pitcher in the . sun, where the evaporation of the steani-' steani-' ing flannel cooled the water inside to a delicious freshness, though it could not improve the flavor. We drank a large cupful each it was the color of polished mahoganyand put the rest into the wagon, slaking our thirst as we drove on. Just before the sun set, a globe of crimson fire in an empty, quivering sky, we saw before Us, touched with his last beams, a distant fringe of trees, and we knew we were nearingour journey's end, for Verbeck's farm lay behind be-hind that distant foliage. Our last meal was eaten on . the desert, our last rest taken till the moon, was up, and then on again we "trekked" through a silent world. . '. ' , .. At midnight , of that same day wo walked our weary horses up to the farm gate, and were met by the hospital farmer Verbeck and his family, heralded by the troop of dogs, that are invariably to be found hahging about the Dutch farm houses. Our journey across the Karroo was accomplished ud we had reached the farm of mooifontein (beautiful water). wa-ter). Behind the white walled bouse and shaded trees fan a small, river to which we led the horses before taking them to the barn; and later, over an impromptu im-promptu supper, we told Verbeck tho latest news from the civilized world, and slept that night with a grateful sense of perils overcome, far into the morning light of the following Hy, Illustrated London News. ACROSS THE KARROO; ' We had already journeyed seven days from Capetown, p&slng through the pretty Tillages of Paarl and Ceres, with I'nu vineyards and maize fields, and bad now reached the edge of the desert known A3 tho 1 "tiToo. The site ia marked en the map of South Africa as beginning beyond the range of the great Zwarte (Black mountains). She entrance to the Karroo ia through a small gorge about a quarter of a mile long and twenty yards wide, with abrupt walls of stone on either side, which seems to indicate that at somo former period a stream of water had passed put through this gorge from a lake whose bed is now ttt arid desert. The distance across the desert to the point we wished to reach was 100 miles, which we wished to accomplish ac-complish in three days. It was ncces-, eary to be careful of our horses, knowing know-ing there was no water on. the journey for them. Wo hoped to do forty miles the first day, and thirty miles each day of the two following. We entered the Karroo Poort (Karroo Gate) at sunrise, and set out on our hazardous journey. I should state that we had stopped over night at a last farmhouse near the Poort, to give our horses rest and a good feed, and to supply ourselves with forage for them and water for ourselves, filling every available vessel with the precious fluid. Our conveyance was a light though strongly built cape cart, on occasion oc-casion covered with a canvas hood to protect us from the sun's rays, and there were four of us. No one can set out upon a desert journey without mingled emotions of hope and fear, there are so many contingencies lying along those weary roads, and roads rendered more desolate by the bleaching bones of dead animals for often the willing beasts, the horses and oxep, fall with fatigue, and see with dying gaze the keen eyed vultures swooping from afar. As we entered the desert it spread before be-fore ua on every a'da like a boundless brown sea, 6ilent, solitary and vast. As the sun rose into the 6ky tho warmth be-catno be-catno intense, and when by midday wo baited we could see tho heat rising from the sefwebed plnina in the wavy columns like golden flames. There is no greater alleviator of thrist than cold tea, and no safer stimulant in a torrid land. While the horses were being unharnessed and fed Meadows and I prepared our midday meal. In three hours we broke u p camp, and went on again until the day was nearly done a day that had passed fairly well. There was neither tree nor mountain in sight; nothing to break the level monotony mo-notony thai Btretched as far as the eye could see. We encamped for the night in the midst of this swelling loneliness, and then perhaps for tho first time began to feol its power. Wo spent the last hour before sundown in cutting and gathering a quantity of brushwood (Karroo shrub, the only thing that grows upon these plains) to feed a necessary iiro to protect us from tha wolves and jackals which scour the desert in packs. . After supper we put away our tin dishes, replenished our big lire, wrapped oursejves in our rugs, and lay down with our weapons by our. sides and our feet to tho fire. Adolph and Wilhelui Moritz. happy Dutchmen, were soon asleep; Meadows and I lay chatting for somo time, then relapsed into quietness, tho derp and strange tilenco that surrounded us broken bro-ken only by the stir of the horses tied to No one who has not crossed a desert can possibly imagine the fearful condition condi-tion to which a want of water reduces him; the food is swallowed with difficulty, diffi-culty, and the system is faint with fever, while the knowledge of its absence does but heighten the craving of the body for its cool refreshment. After our rest we set out again, and tho timo slipped by in silence. Later, looking up, I saw something, some-thing, and turned and said to Meadows: "Thank God! there is water ahead. See, thei'o is a lake a few miles off." "A lake!" exclaimed Moritz. "Don't you know what that is?" "What is it, if not a lake?1 demanded Meadows. "A mirage and nothing else," said the elder Morita, "A mirage!" I cried. "Why, I can see tho water; there are the reflections of tho tree3 and deer drinking." "You'll sco vhat'll become of your lake, mynheer, and j our trees and your deer, as wo go," ho replied with a short laugh. "No! you'll see no water till we're out of the Karroo and at Verbeck's farm." Far away overhead in the brazen sky was a single vulture that made one dizzy to look r.t. An hour later the stumbling horse3 suddenly pricked up their ears, and the leaders neighed. "There is water." eaid Moritz, fn an undertone of surprise. "You may deceive de-ceive a man, but vou can't deceive a horse." True enough, in a short time we came up to a nearly (Hied pool of filthy water, liUlo more than mud. as thick us porridge por-ridge and as brown aschocolnte, towards which the horses rushed with new en-, en-, ergy. It was a cruel net, but wo pulled ; up suddenly, and Adolph and his brother : leaped to the ground aud held them back whilo Meadows and I ran forward and scooped up tlie liquid and strained it : through a handkerchief until we hadcol-I hadcol-I lected a large Lettleful. Then we out-! out-! spanned and let the horses go, and 6tood j and watched them as they eagerly Jicked up the muddy compound. One rnnv ask how it wajs this little uool should km & but, as we kept our brushwood tiro in good condition, they finally gave up what we feared was a premeditated attack, at-tack, and stole away. And then we rested and knew no more till the chilly dawn awoke us, when a fresh misfortune awaited us. - In the confusion of the night before a wooden canteen, filled with water, had been kicked over, the bung started aud much of tho contents lost. AVhilo the horsoa were being fed and "inspanned," Meadows made coffee, and then, greatly refreshed, we set out before tho sun was up, journeying still deeper into tho desert. des-ert. Our drive was a dreary pull. Once we passed close to where a flock of vultures vul-tures were feeding ou tho carcass of somo animal that had wandered ofT tho road to die. pur track was lined with whitened bones. After we had halted for an hour's rest and a hurried breakfast, break-fast, wo went on again, and should have been in good spirits enough had not uur horses, inured as they were, begun to show unmistakable signs of the fatigue ;hat follows a lack of water. We ourselves had not too much to satisfy sat-isfy the needs of four men, and we determined de-termined to put ourselves on short allowance al-lowance since tho mishap of the night before. After the midday "outspan" our late afternoon journey was enlivened tjy. a singular display of thieving boldness. bold-ness. We were slowly "trekking" along, the two drivers oj our four in hand team j seated on the front .seat. Meadows and I ' on the seat behind half asleep, the cur- ! tain at the end of the wagon rolled up a few inches to permit a draught to pass . through, when all at once we heard a scuffling kind of spring and scratching at the tailboard, and looking round caught the glimpso of the nose vf a jack- al as it disappeared from sight. The rea- son was ohrlous. Lashed against the tu4t of tho wacon outside waa a sack of |