"What, go on at once?" exclaimed Gilbert. "Why, what is that for? I am just beginning to get cool--that is, as cool as ever I expect to be again. If we have only a mile to go, we had surely better walk it in the cool of the evening than under this broiling sun." "Must not wait," said Omatoko. "Storm come soon--not able go at all." "The storm! Do you see any signs of one, doctor? I don't." "Yes, I see signs; but I own I should not have thought it would break out for some hours. But the changes of the atmosphere are wonderfully rapid in this country, and I have no doubt the Hottentot is right. Will it be on us in another hour, Omatoko?" "Perhaps half an hour, perhaps three-quarters," was the answer. "Half an hour! We must be off this minute, and move as fast as we can. Here, Frank, Ernest--hoist Omatoko on to my shoulders; I can carry him for a quarter of a mile, any way, and that will be ten minutes saved." "And I'll take him as far as I can, when you've done with him," added Warley, "and so, I doubt not, will the others. Lift him up. There, that's right. Now step out as fast as we can." By the time that the doctor's "quarter of a mile," as it was called-- though it was in reality nearly twice that distance--was completed, the signs of the approaching hurricane began to gather so fast, that even the most unobservant must have perceived them. The clouds came rapidly up, and gradually hid the rich blue of the sky. The light breeze which had stirred the foliage of the few trees which rose above the level of the scrub, gradually died away, and a dead, ominous calm succeeded. Warley, to whose back the sick man had now been transferred, hurried on with all the speed he could command, and rapid way was made. Every minute they expected the rain to burst forth. The black clouds which hid the horizon, every other minute seemed to be split open, and forked flashes of fire issued from them. Presently there came a furious rush of wind, almost icy cold--the immediate precursor of the outburst. "We close by now," exclaimed Omatoko, as he was transferred from Ernest's shoulders to those of Frank. "Not hundred yards off. Turn round tall rock by pool there. Kraal little further on."