The cases were sewn up in canvas, on
which was painted respectively, Tea, Sugar, Biscuits, and Rice.
Travelling five hours and halting at ten o'clock at a farmhouse that was
still tenanted, and again travelling from half-past three until eight,
they made about twenty-five miles the first day. Then they encamped at a
spot where there was a small spring and consequently good feed for the
horses, and knee-haltering them and taking off their saddles they turned
them loose.
The natives had collected fuel as they went along, and a fire was soon
made. When the kettle approached boiling, some slices of bacon, of which
they had brought thirty pounds with them, were fried. There was no
occasion to make bread, as they had enough for a two days' supply. The
natives parched some mealies (Indian corn) in the frying-pan when the
bacon was done, the fat serving as a condiment that they highly
appreciated, and they quenched their thirst from the spring.
Four days' travelling took them to the drift across the Tugela. So far
their journey had been wholly uneventful. Before crossing the next day
they had a long talk with the two Zulus. Their language differed
somewhat from that of Jack, but Chris understood them without
difficulty; for a considerable portion of the labourers in the mines at
Johannesburg were Zulus, and mixing with these, as Chris had done, he
understood them even better than he did Jack.
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