Away from the
world it stands beyond those rocky ways and boulders, with its soft shade
sweeping curves, and feathery undergrowth, making a beautiful world of
its own. For years upon years it has stood there - may be for
centuries - sending down from its branches those props for its old age,
bountiful with its shade, and indifferent whether its path-ways be
trodden by white feet or black.
After the heat and "drouth" we could have loitered in that pleasant
shade; but we were due at the Red Lilies "second night out"; and it being
one of the unwritten laws of a "nigger-hunt" to keep appointments - "the
other chaps worrying a bit if you don't turn up" - soon after four o'clock
we were out in the blazing heat again, following the river now along its
higher flood-bank through grassy plains and open forest land.
By five o'clock Dan was prophesying that "it 'ud take us all we knew to
do the trick in daylight," but at six o'clock, when we were still eight
miles from the Red Lilies, the Maluka settled the question by calling for
a camp there and then. "The missus had had enough," the Maluka decided,
and Dan became anxious.
