The sun had now gone down, and darkness was beginning to hide the desert, which Ned could see through the open portal from where he lay. The semi-nude figures now approached, and, kneeling down, began to take off the boots of him and his comrades; after this they washed their feet and covered them again. It was all most delightful and pleasant, and Ned was glad that the amazons did not attempt this task. They apparently were engaged making their own toilets during this time. While allowing the slaves to manipulate, he looked at the white-robed forms. They were engaged in various departments of duty. Some were baking bread-cakes, others cooking various dishes, and several were hard at work plaiting and dressing the tresses of the amazons. They were meek visaged, and had their heads shaved, yet, somehow, although so small and spiritless, they seemed to belong to the male sex. Another feed was under way of a more substantial description than the last. As the savoury fumes stole into their nostrils, they once more began to find themselves prepared for it. Presently it was ready, and this time the ladies shared it with them. While they were eating and drinking, four of the white-robed figures sat near and played on harps. It was a plain supper of roasted and stewed game garnished with garlic, boiled rice, with maize and lentil cakes. For vegetables they had leeks and yams, while bananas, figs, and grapes served for dessert. A delicious, light-tasted, but rather heady wine was given to them along with the water, which was pure and sweet. This they took sparingly of, yet it quickly sent them all off to sleep. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. A CHARIOT DRIVE. Ned woke soon after sunrise the next morning, and before his companions. Fred, Clarence, Cocoeni, and the other Kaffirs were doing their best to eclipse the howling of the caged leopards with their snoring. The slaves were there, also the bakers, cooks, hairdressers, and general all-round men. But the amazons were absent. The general practitioners of the comb and harp were filling in their spare time by whipping the slaves with cruel-looking thongs, as they went about their drudgery. The faces of those clean-shaven, undersized, and lean, white-robed men still looked as expressionless and meek as long-imprisoned convicts usually do. They had likewise the same unwholesome waxiness of complexion; buff-coloured wax their thin cheeks and narrow foreheads were, with purply close-set lips, and long, deep-placed, lustreless blue-black eyes.