Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-10-31
IN A DESERT.

7 through Bcchunanland toward the Zam bczi. and it happened by great good for tune that just at tho junction of the | Notwani and LimpOpo rivers they found | outSpanned the wagons of two hunters and traders sOuthward bound from the | far interior. These men were travelling | down country with heavy loads of 1 ivory, ostrich feathers, skins and other | produce, and they had with them big troop of cattle, obtained in barter. In these fitful encounters in the African wilderness men are always we'll met, and it needed no pressing from the new | found acquaintances to induce them to OutSpan together and combine forces | for Christmas cheer and Christmas | chatter. A brief council of war soon settled the all important question of cOmmiSSariat. Smallfield, the younger of the traders, had shot n good rOoibok the evening before, which furnished | veniSOn for all, and they had already baked q store of bread from fresh Boer | meal The newcomers, on their side, | freshly equipped from Kimberley, could l provide timed plum buildings, tinned l tomatoes, peas, jams and other luxuries, | including dried onions, most precious | of vegetables in the veldt, and they had, l further, some excellent Scotch whisky. | They had besides half dozen brace of guinea fowl and pheasants, shot during the day in the jungles bordering the river, so that all the concomitants of q | capital African banquet were ready to hand
 Just at sundOwn the preparations | HNrINnlarp and rnar-rior | you may swear, ever sat down to their 1 Christmas meal They supped by the 1 light of a roaring campfire, eked out by q lantern or two placed on the cases that served for tables. The servants were enjoying themselves at another fire q l little distant; the oxen lay peacefully at their yUkes; the wagons loomed large l alongside, their white tents refiecting chccrfully the ruddy blaze of the fire The night was perfect, still and warm, and the stars. like q million diamond i sparks, scintillated ill the intense indigo of the dome above. What wonder, then, that all felt happy and contented? Supper at length was over. The coffee ] kettle was baniShcd to obSCurity and the whisky produced The travellers lit | their pipes and toasted their absent | friends and each other, and then ensued | a long and delightful evening.
 Tn" traders We're two capital, manly | fellows, well vVTSCd in the sports and i tolls and pleasures of the far interior The newcomers themselves had been ill the hunting veldt before, and they had all, therefore, many things in common. Many and many yarn of the chase and adventure they exchanged; many head of gallant game they slew again by the cheerful blaze. The up country trekkers mentioned that they thought of trying a new bit of veldt rather away from the beaten track, if they could but find Wa ter ill the desert and good guides and spOorers. They were bent on entering the wild and little known tract of coun- try north of the road to the Mabebe veldt-
 1 Well, said the elder of the traders | l-kenstOne was his name-''you'l Il find game there after the rains-giraffe, gemsbOk, hartebeest, eland, koodoo, roan antelope and perhaps a few ele- phants or a rhinoccros or two. But it a wild, barren veldt. Tine country as you go north is good deal broken, and unless the rains have been good water Is terribly scarce.
 As for myself, gazing rather mood lily at the campfire and stroking his thick brown beard, II once went into that yeldt and never wish to see il again. l had a most uncanny adventure there, an experience I never again wish to repeat if 1 live to be hundred. IL all the years (and they are close on five and twenty now) I have been ill the hunting veldt I never spent so incom, prehensible and horrible time as the few days l am thinking O.. Ugh!" and the big man shivered as he spoke.
 Naturally the curiosity of his audi ence was at once excited. The younger trader, Smallfield, spoke first.
 Why, George he said, ''I nevel heard you speak of that country. nev CT even knew you had been ill it Whats the yarn? It must be something out of the common if it gives you tho blues, You're not sentimental as far a. l remember
 No, Jim, 7" returned Kenstone. "l never mentioned the thing to you or tC any one else, bar perhaps two or thre, folks It's II years gone since it al } happened My old partner, Angus (he'. down i'll the colony nowl. who was witt llt I reported some of the circumstances tC a Transvaal Landdrost when we go back Otherwise I have never talked about the matter. I should only bt chaffed, and it's not a pleasant topic
 at the best of times. It gave me a yer
 nasty fright at the time, remember ! However, it's all far enough away now t If you and these gentlemen would lik
 to hear the yarn, why, I'll break m
 rule and tell you all about it. And
 mind, what I tell you are solid facts
 You know I don't blow, Jim, or spou
 tall yarns for the benefit of down cour
 try folks or bar loafers at Kimberley , What l saw 1 saw, and, please God
 hope never to see again.
 All were as keen as mustard for tn , story. and Kenstone went on.
 Well, let me fill my pipe. and her goes:
 ''It was in 1874 that Angus and wer ]. making our third trip to the Lax
 Ng gami country. This time we had gC
 leave from Khama to trade and hunt i
 Mababe and the Chobe river country
 and we meant to push even beyond {
 the region between the Sunta and tn
 Okavango if the fever would let us. W
 made good trek of it across the 'thirs
 there had been very late rains tha year-and even after crossing the lak
 river we made good travelling we'll 0 r toward the Mababe fiat. We hear
 from the Makobas and Masarwas alon
 the river that there was still some WI