“I have often wished I had you with me, and remember, when I got to Mungwato last April, to outfit, as I drove up to Gray’s store, I thought if I could have a wish it would be to see your waggon coming in from the opposite direction. I did not even know that you were yourself thinking the same thing about the same time. The same idea occurred to me the last time my waggon broke down on the Zambesi road, and I was left to the mercy of the natives of that part of the country. I thought, if your waggon suddenly appeared, how I could turn the tables on my persecutors, and how we could go on together to the Zambesi. Of course, I felt certain such a thing would not occur, but somehow it got into my head.... “You will be glad to hear that I endorse your theory that trying to trade, when on a sporting tour or exploring, is an utter failure, and that, had we brought up light waggons, we should have been wiser--knowing all I know now. I have been allied with Dutch Boers since parting from you, and the more I see _of_ them, the more I see _through_ them. I have still some of my old Maritzburg bullocks left, a rare good sort, but from time to time upon the journey have bought and broken young ones. I have now a good span of fourteen and a couple of supernumeraries, and have likewise bought a heifer, to give me milk. She is of the peculiar small breed, less than Alderneys, bred by the Mashonas. My dogs are invaluable to me. ‘Rail’ and ‘Rock’ require the greatest care, and get it. “I shall wonder how you get on amongst the Spitzbergen game. If as successful as you must have been here, you can claim to count amongst the Nimrods. I don’t know what to say to your letter of June 2d. Of course, if you should come out as you propose, it will be very pleasant to meet, and we might spend a month or two together in the Zulu country before I leave Africa, or, returning _viâ_ Zanzibar, spend a month or two there, as you suggest. I should not care to be very much longer than this, and if, after all, you should not come now, we must do something else again together in the course of time.”