Work Was Carried On All Night, Which Was Divided As Usual Into Shifts,
And This I Have No Doubt Saved Us From Attack.
Before sunset we had seen
several bucks sneaking about the rocks, and during the night they came
round us and held a whispered conversation with their fellow in our camp.
Between them a sort of telegraphy seemed to be going on by tapping stones
on the rocks.
They may have been merely showing their position in the
darkness, or it is possible that they have a "Morse code" of their own.
I was on shift when they came, and as the well wanted baling only every
twenty minutes, I was lying awake and watching the whole performance, and
could now and then see a shadowy figure in the darkness. As soon as I
rose to work, our buck lay down and snored heavily, and his friends of
course were silent. I awoke Breaden on my way, as it would have been far
too much in their favour should the blacks have attacked us and found me
down the well and the rest of the party asleep. They were quite right in
wishing to rescue their friend, since they could not tell what his fate
was to be, but we could not risk a wounded companion or possibly worse,
and lay watching for the remainder of the night. Evidently they were
inclined to take no risks either, for they left us in peace.
The wells, situated as they are in the bed of a rocky gully, would after
rain hold plenty of water, though we extracted no more than thirty-five
gallons.
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