Scarcely had the words left his mouth when the Bushman pointed to the sand a few yards in front of them, and said quietly,-- "There’s the wagon spoor, baas." And so, indeed, it was. They rode on in the darkness for something more than three hours longer. Guy, who suffered much from thirst, and began to ache all over from the effects of fourteen hours in the saddle, the weight of his rifle, and the added labour of supporting the eland head in front of him, began to wonder if he could stick it out much longer. At last, towards nine o’clock, they saw, twinkling cheerily in the distance, the light of a fire. It was the camp fire. Their trouble was instantly at an end; Guy’s aches and pains vanished; they cantered briskly forward, and in ten minutes were at the wagon. "Hullo!" cried Mr. Blakeney cheerily, as they rode up; "so you’ve turned up at last. Who is there?" "Poeskop and I, uncle," said Guy. "Hasn’t Tom turned up yet?" "Not yet," said Mr. Blakeney, without a trace of anxiety; "but he’ll be here presently, no doubt. How do you feel? Dry?" "Dry isn’t the word for it, uncle," said Guy. "I never knew what thirst was until to-day; not even when I got lost at Bamborough, hunting hartebeest. I would have given £5 willingly for a glass of water in the last hour or two." "Well, you were a pair of silly fellows to go tearing off without your water-bottles and without food; and when I heard of it afterwards, I knew you would suffer for it. Now have a drink, lad. Here, Seleti, fetch the baas some water." Seleti brought water from one of the barrels, and, lukewarm, muddy, and ill-tasted as was the stuff, to Guy it seemed the veriest nectar he had ever tasted. Then the Bushman drank. "Now, Guy," said his uncle, "I wouldn’t drink much of that muddy stuff. Have a bowl of tea; it will quench your thirst far better, and pull you together." Guy took his uncle’s advice, and felt all the better for it. Then he ate some supper. They sat by the fire till 11 o’clock, expecting Tom to ride up at any moment; but no Tom appeared. They were in the middle of a dangerous piece of thirst country, and it was absolutely essential that the oxen and wagon should trek on. The cattle had already endured two days and nights without touching water; they must reach the river-bed in front of them within the next twenty-four hours, or die. Enough water had been carried in the wagon-barrels to supply human necessities and give a scant drink to the horses hitherto, but that was drawing to an end, and the horses must push on also.