Long after the fire in the centre of the convicts' hut had been extinguished, did both the inmates, stretched on karosses, try to collect their somewhat scattered senses together. Still the weary drum beat on--still the shrill chorus rose and fell upon the clear night wind, and at times the shout of some excited dancer pierced the air. Lee, in wish, sent them to the infernal regions--whence, indeed, a stranger might infer they came--and tried to frame plans connected with the insurgent operations of the Dutch. Gray strove to pray, but knew not how--poor wretch! "Ah," thought he, with a heavy sigh, "would I were once more a soldier, and an honest man!" And with this vain wish he fell asleep, and dreamed he was a little child again, kneeling on the hearth beside his mother, and repeating to her the simple prayer she used to teach him at eventide. CHAPTER SIX. THE KAFIR SPY. We left Frankfort and Ormsby with their cavalcade of wagons, horses, and attendants, pursuing their way to the north-east. I have no intention of giving you a detailed account of this part of their expedition, since they are not presented to the reader in the character of mere sportsmen--indeed such narratives belong to more experienced hands than mine, albeit, ere their able works appeared, I had collected a few anecdotes, which would now present no novelty. May, the bushman guide, still headed the cavalcade, a unique advance-guard, closely followed by two or three of the queerest-looking mongrels possible, of which his favourite was a species of water-spaniel. A fine bloodhound kept close to Ormsby's horse's heels, never condescending to join May and his scratch-pack, and scorning all offers from the bushman's cuisine; the only symptom of toleration of inferior caste shown by the aristocratic dog was a passive endurance of the infant Ellen's caresses, when she crawled through the grass to Major Frankfort's tent, into which the yellow face of the little imp no sooner peered, than she was snatched up by her father, and carried back to Fitje with a gentle rebuke. "The sir was kind," May said, "and he would not have him imposed upon." In many ways this stunted creature of the wilderness displayed a refinement of feeling not always met with among worldly beings, jealous of infringing on the conventionalism of society--people who meet you with "Unmeaning speech--exaggerated smile," and measure their civilities by the length of your purse, or your position in fashionable life. And are these less treacherous than the savage? Verily, I believe that, in spirit, they are just as deceitful. But let us leave them, and return to our party.