“And the last is the worst of the three,” replied the Major.  “We shall have a moon to-night for a few hours.”

“Yes, and if we had not, it would be of no consequence; the stars give light enough, and we have little chance of wild beasts here.  We now want water; as soon as we get rid of that danger, we shall then have the other to encounter.”

The sun went down at last; the poor oxen toiled on with their tongues hanging out of their mouths.  At sunset, the relay oxen were yoked, and they continued their course by the stars.  The horses had been refreshed, as Swinton had proposed; but they were too much exhausted to be ridden, and our travelers, with their guns on their shoulders, and the dogs loose, to give notice of any danger, now walked by the sides of the wagons over the sandy ground.  The stars shone out brilliantly, and even the tired cattle felt relief, from the comparative coolness of the night air.  All was silent, except the creaking of the wheels of the wagons, and the occasional sighs of the exhausted oxen, as they thus passed through the desert.

“Well,” observed the Major, after they had walked about an hour without speaking, “I don’t know what your thoughts may have been all this while, but it has occurred to me that a party of pleasure may be carried to too great lengths; and I think that I have been very selfish, in persuading Wilmot to undergo all that we have undergone and are likely to undergo, merely because I wished to shoot a giraffe.”

“I presume that I must plead guilty also,” replied Swinton, “in having assisted to induce him; but you know a naturalist is so ardent in his pursuit that he thinks of nothing else.”

“I do not think that you have either of you much to answer for,” replied Alexander; “I was just as anxious to go as you were; and as far as I am concerned, have not the slightest wish to turn back again, till we have executed our proposed plans.  We none of us undertook this journey with the expectation of meeting with no difficulties or no privations; and I fully anticipate more than we have yet encountered, or are encountering now.  If I get back on foot, and without a sole left to my shoe, I shall be quite content; at the same time, I will not continue it if you both wish to return.”

“Indeed, my dear fellow, I have no wish but to go on; but I was afraid that we were running you into dangers which we have no right to do.”

“You have a right, allowing that I did not myself wish to proceed,” replied Alexander.  “You escorted me safe through the country to ascertain a point in which you had not the slightest interest, and it would indeed be rewarding you very ill, if I were now to refuse to gratify you:  but the fact is, I am gratifying myself at the same time.”

“Well, I am very glad to hear you say so,” replied the Major, “as it makes my mind at ease; what time do you think it is, Swinton?”

“It is about three o’clock; we shall soon have daylight, and I hope with daylight we shall have some sight to cheer us.  We have traveled well, and can not by my reckoning be far from the Val River.  Since yesterday morning we have made sixty miles or thereabouts; and if we have not diverged from our course, the poor animals will soon be relieved.”