Before  we  reached  the  patch  of  Yellow-wood  forest  where
I  knew  that  the  cart  must  travel  very  slowly  because  of
the  trees  and  the  swampy  nature  of  the  ground,  I  pushed
on  ahead  to  reconnoitre,  fearing  lest  there  might  be  Basutos
hidden  in  this  cover.  Riding  straight  through  it  I  went  as
far  as  the  deserted  wagon  at  a  sharp  canter,  seeing  nothing
and  no  one.  Once  indeed,  towards  the  end  of  the  wood
where  it  was  more  dense,  I  thought  that  I  heard  a  man
cough  and  peered  about  me  through  the  gloom,  for  here
the  rays  of  the  sun,  which  was  getting  low  in  the  heavens,
scarcely  penetrated.  As  I  could  perceive  no  one  I  came
to  the  conclusion  that  I  must  have  been  deceived  by  my
fancy.  Or  perhaps  it  was  some  baboon  that  coughed,  though
it  was  strange  that  a  baboon  should  have  come  to  such  a
low-lying  spot  where  there  was  nothing  for  it  to  eat.
The  place  was  eerie,  so  much  so  that  I  bethought  me  of
the  Kaffirs'  tales  of  the  ghosts  whereby  it  was  supposed  to
be  haunted.  Also,  oddly  enough,  of  Anscombe's  presenti-
ment which  he  had  fulfilled  by  killing  a  Basuto.  Look  !
There  lay  his  grinning  skull  with  some  patches  of  hair  still
on  it,  dragged  away  from  the  rest  of  the  bones  by  a  hyena.
