then starting early by daylight, push right through the country, where there might be a stray lot of Kaffirs on the look-out for plunder. I should have taken his advice, but I knew that the oxen were too weak to endure such a long day's work as his plan would have given them. I bid the Dutchman farewell; and then, under the guidance of Seul, as our new boy was called, set off a couple of hours' treking before sunset; and the oxen, refreshed by their unaccustomed good feed, went along merrily.

A Dismal Valley-A Mud-hole-Rigging out-A Night TrekWare Kaffirs-The Dusselboom breaks-A Compulsory Halt -Leydenburg-Waggon-makers-High Prices-Speculators.

SOME three miles from the Boer's farm we entered into the most hideous place I have ever been in. It was a valley with high hills on each side, and so narrow that when once in there seemed no exit at either end; but the grass had lately been burnt, and looked as if a dismal black pall had been stretched from the summit of the hills to the bottom of the valley. I was very anxious to get out of it before we outspanned, but before we reached the end I was obliged to, as darkness came on, and there were bad mud-holes in our road. The shadows on the hills gave the place a still more unearthly and ghostly appearance, and the boys were frightened out of their lives. Seul declared he would go back, but I gave him a large "pooza" of raw spirit, which inclined him to roll up in his blankets and go to sleep instead. To make things worse, a biting, howling wind came sweeping the valley from end to end. Although it was only six, I turned into bed; and even inside the waggon, with all the blankets and skins I had on the top of me, the cold pierced through, so I expect the boys must have been half frozen before morning.

At the first streak of daylight, the boys, without being told, fetched up the oxen, and we were on the trek before I felt inclined to turn out and face the raw morning air. During the night I had heard someone moving about the back of the waggon, and on inquiring about it, I was told that the wind was so violent that Francis, who was the most unmitigated coward, fearing it would roll the waggon away, had got up and put on the break. His alarm must have been genuine, or he would never have left his warm blankets unless fear of being run over impelled him to.

We crossed the stream without any accident, although it looked just the place for a bad "stick," and were just commencing the ascent of a long hill at the end of the valley, when down went the front wheels, through a crust of hard earth, over the axles into deep black clay. First of all we tried to force the oxen to draw it through, but with no better result than the breaking half-a-dozen yoke-keys and one yoke, in frantic efforts to avoid the cutting strokes the boys showered down on their backs, and at last, fairly tired out, they sulkily refused to pull. Seeing that it was worse than useless expecting the oxen to extricate the waggon as it was, we outshamed them and set to work with the spades. After a couple of hours' hard work a trench was dug from each forewheel to the other side of the mud-hole. The oxen were inspanned again, and with their first pull brought the front wheels clear, but to no purpose; for the hind wheels, over which the heaviest weight had shifted, broke through another crust of earth and stuck fast in a worse position than we were in before.

Flogging the tired and now dispirited oxen was mere cruelty, so they were again outspanned. It was evident that the waggon was too heavy to get through with any amount of digging, so reluctantly I had to set the boys at work to unload everything, while I employed myself cutting the long tough tambootie grass to lay on the mud and make it more consistent. In the middle of our toil I was delighted to see A. riding up to us. He had left P. in even a worse plight than ourselves. His waggon had stuck in a mud-hole similar to the one we were in, but all the spokes of one of the wheels had been broken against a large stone, in trying to pull through. This necessitated his taking off the wheel and having it mended before he could get along any farther, and as the nearest wheelwright was at Leydenburg, twenty miles away, it would take at least a week to put him on the road again.

To unload the waggon took another two hours, but the labour was not grudged when we saw the waggon safe and sound on the firm land the other side. We packed in the stores again anyhow, so as to get in one good trek at all events before sundown. Seul insisted upon our outspanning for the night in an open place, to enable us to keep a good look-out. He advised us to do without fires, and was so very urgent about it that we had to give up our hot coffee and turn in without anything better to eat than dry biscuits.

We tied the oxen up doubly secure to the dusselboom, and also put a chain through each of their neck-straps, to prevent the possibility of the

fastenings being cut without awakening us. Seul had his own rifle, and each of the boys had one out of the waggon, ready loaded, so that if molested we should not be found unprepared.

The night passed without any adventure, but it was with a feeling of relief we saw the sun rise once more, and then all the precautions of the night before seemed absurd.

As it was Sunday we determined to observe our general rule, and spend the day where we were outspanned; but in the afternoon Seul, who had been out with his rifle after some rhy-bôk which appeared on the top of a hill opposite, came back to the camp with the information that there were a lot of Macatees on the other side of the hills. Although they might not have any hostile intention towards us, and possibly did not even know of our vicinity, yet we judged it best to inspan and get out of the way as soon as possible.

Darkness came over very soon after we had started, but the stars gave us enough light to trek by. Our road lay between two high hills, precipitous enough to be called cliffs, and ran in and out between mighty boulders of craggy rock, which at a distance entirely hid the road up. It was the very place Kaffirs would choose for an attack, and while going through we kept our rifles all ready for use. We several times crossed and recrossed a stream which ran through the valley, with no accident. At last we came to the end, and here the road crossed the river in a broader and deeper place then we liked the looks of at