The ponies enabled their riders to get many a shot at the several varieties of antelope--boks, as they were generally called--while as game was so abundantly plentiful, the boys were asked by the doctor what they would seek for that day when they would sometimes decide on devoting one barrel of their double guns to small shot, the other in case of danger being loaded with a bullet. Then they would make the Illaka understand what they required, and he would lead them to where there was abundance of a large kind of partridge, or francolin, which was delicious eating; or take them to some place at the edge of the forest where he knew from experience that the harsh, metallic-voiced, speckled guinea-fowl would be coming home to roost. This would always be when the supply of the larder was very low, and then, with the two keepers to load, a heavy bag would invariably be made, and a pretty good odour of burning feathers pervade the camp. Camp was formed one night with all the precautions made such as were customary in the part of the world through which they were travelling, so as to carefully secure the draught animals and the ponies, for however peaceful and free from danger the country might seem, the black always marched about shouldering his spear and watching that this was done, while after noting how careful the man was, the doctor gave him a few words of praise and left these precautions to him, while these safeguards always included the collecting of a supply of wood sufficient to keep up a good blazing fire till morning. "I suppose this is all right," said Mark, who was extra tired and had several times yawned widely after partaking of an ample supper, "but all these days we have been travelling farther and farther into the depth of the country we haven't seen a single big beast, let alone a lion." "Only the one you shot at, Mark," said his cousin. "You don't seem as if you could forget about my mistake, Dean," said Mark peevishly. "Here, I think I shall lie down and go to sleep." "And forget all about its being your turn to take first watch?" said the doctor, smiling. "What, again?" cried the boy peevishly, "Oh, how soon the nights do come round! Well, I don't have to go on duty for hours yet, so I shall have my nap first. But I say, doctor, I thought that we should always be seeing lions and elephants and giraffes, besides rhinoceroses, which would come charging at the waggons whenever they saw them." "I daresay you did," said the doctor quietly. "And here we haven't seen one--nothing but those little--well, some of them were big--bucks." "Why, we saw a drove of zebras the other day." "Yes, we did see them," replied Mark. "But I wanted to have a shot at an elephant or a giraffe." "Yes; I suppose you expected to find South Africa a sort of over-abundant Zoological Gardens." "No, I didn't," said Mark; "but I did expect that as soon as we began burning fires to keep off the wild beasts, there would be some to keep off."