We swam over to the German bank, where a bare 10 feet of soil clung to the base of the cliff. High up on the latter the marks of ancient floods showed that a rise of fully 40 feet above the present level had more than once occurred; and, remembering that heavy rainfall up-country might at any time bring a repetition, we resolved to get out into the open again as soon as possible. So we stayed but the one night, in the middle of which Ransson’s horse was cruelly mauled by a leopard, which meant that we had to walk most of the way back to “Quagga,” where we found the “boys” just organising a search-party to look for us. A jackal had haunted the camp every night we had been away, and they had no doubt whatever that it was the _K’nas_, or spirit jackal, and that one of the party was doomed. To their horror Ransson said that for his part he believed the jackal was the doomed party, and, sure enough, that evening he shot the poor animal. Unfortunately, he did not bring it into camp, but left it lying about a hundred yards away, where he shot it, and in the morning it was gone. Probably a hyena had taken it, for both the _stronte wolf_ and the _tijger wolf_ are common in these mountains; but we could see no spoor, and of course this circumstance was a triumphal vindication of our “boys’” belief in the supernatural character of the visitor. They clucked and jabbered more than ever they had done, and were obviously scared out of their wits and likely to desert. Old Klaas told us that in addition to the “Ghost Jackal,” these hills were the haunt of a big snake with the head of a goat, which devoured men. Many men had seen this snake, men he had known had been taken by it, and every Richtersfeldt Hottentot believed in it. According to Klaas, it had a playful little peculiarity of being able to emit a blast of air so strong that it would knock down a man whilst still many yards distant from it. It is in no way to be confounded with the _Ki-man_ of the “Groot Rivier,” which, as I have described, we had already sought the acquaintance of unsuccessfully. I asked Klaas if any trace of this goat-headed monstrosity had been seen around our camp, and he said, “No,” but they had heard it repeatedly for the last two days.