“Well, we got to the place, and, hiding ourselves carefully in the trees at the foot of the kloof, watched the baboons playing about and grunting to each other, till at length, according to custom, they took the white one and three other little babies and put them in the cave.  Then the old man came out, looked carefully round, called to his family, and went off with them over the brow of the kloof.  Now very slowly and cautiously we crept up over the rocks till we came to the mouth of the cave and looked in.  All the four little baboons were fast asleep, with their backs towards us, and their arms round each other’s necks, the white one being in the middle.  Nothing could have been better for our plans.  Hendrik, who by this time had quite entered into the spirit of the thing, crept along the cave like a snake, and suddenly dropped the mouth of the hide bag over the head of the white baboon.  The poor little thing woke up and gave a violent jump which caused it to vanish right into the bag.  Then Hendrik pulled the string tight, and together we knotted it so that it was impossible for our captive to escape.  Meanwhile the other baby baboons had rushed from the cave screaming, and when we got outside they were nowhere to be seen.

“‘Come on, Missie,’ said Hendrik; ‘the babyans will soon be back.’  He had shouldered the sack, inside of which the white baboon was kicking violently, and screaming like a child.  It was dreadful to hear its shrieks.

“We scrambled down the sides of the kloof and ran for home as fast as we could manage.  When we were near the waterfall, and within about three hundred yards of the garden wall, we heard a voice behind us, and there, leaping from rock to rock, and running over the grass, was the whole family of baboons headed by the old man.

“‘Run, Missie, run!’ gasped Hendrik, and I did, like the wind, leaving him far behind.  I dashed into the garden, where some Kaffirs were working, crying, ‘The babyans! the babyans!’ Luckily the men had their sticks and spears by them and ran out just in time to save Hendrik, who was almost overtaken.  The baboons made a good fight for it, however, and it was not till the old man was killed with an assegai that they ran away.

“Well, there is a stone hut in the kraal at the stead where my father sometimes shuts up natives who have misbehaved.  It is very strong, and has a barred window.  To this hut Hendrik carried the sack, and, having untied the mouth, put it down on the floor, and ran from the place, shutting the door behind him.  In another moment the poor little thing was out and dashing round the stone hut as though it were mad.  It sprung at the bars of the window, clung there, and beat its head against them till the blood came.  Then it fell to the floor, and sat upon it crying like a child, and rocking itself backwards and forwards.  It was so sad to see it that I began to cry too.

“Just then my father came in and asked what all the fuss was about.  I told him that we had caught a young white baboon, and he was angry, and said that it must be let go.  But when he looked at it through the bars of the window he nearly fell down with astonishment.