Some Namaquas had shot one of these animals as it was rising from its sleep. One of the party, imagining the beast to be dead, straightway went up to it and (with like object as myself) acted precisely as I had done. The beast, however, had only been stunned, and, as soon as he felt the cold steel enter his body, he started to his feet and made off at full speed. This action was so instantaneous as to prevent the man from dismounting, and the other Namaquas were paralyzed with fear. Fortunately, however, after the beast had run forty or fifty paces, he suddenly stopped short and looked round. The favorable opportunity was not lost; for one of the party, more courageous than the rest, instantly fired, and, as good luck would have it, brought the animal to the ground, with his terror-stricken rider still clinging to his back.
On rejoining our party, Stewardson was not a little surprised at our success, and mortified at his own want of perseverance. The flesh of the rhinoceros was poor but not unpalatable, and we remained a day at Annis to cut up and dry part of it as provision for the journey. We also carried away a goodly supply of the beast’s hide for the purpose of converting it into “shamboks.”[10]
One day, as I was riding with Hans, he pointed out to me a place where he had been attacked by a lion in broad daylight, pulled off his ox, and only escaped death by a miracle.
Not being encumbered by a vehicle, we were now able to hold the course of the Swakop uninterruptedly; but on arriving at the Usab gorge, it became necessary to leave the river and to cross the Naarip plain to Scheppmansdorf. From the great length of this stage (fifteen hours’ actual travel), and the total absence of water and pasturage, it is necessary to traverse it during the night. As thick fogs and mists, however, are not uncommon here, the traveler is exposed to some risk. It not unfrequently happens that he loses the track; the result of which usually is, that when the day breaks upon him he finds himself either back at the place from which he started or in some unknown part of the plain. Instances are narrated of people having remained in this inhospitable desert as long as three days! “Losing the way,” as my friend Galton says, “is the rule here and not the exception; and a person who has crossed the plain without doing so rather plumes himself upon the feat.”
Hans recited to me the particulars of an adventure which happened to a European in this wilderness. During the time Captain Greybourn (to whom allusion has already been made) was established at Walfisch Bay, the medical gentleman who resided with him had occasion to cross the Naarip plain; but, being a total stranger to the country, he engaged a Hottentot as guide. The day proved hot and oppressive, and the wayfarers had not proceeded far when the doctor felt faint and thirsty. On inquiry of his attendant whether any water could be obtained, he received a sulky and unsatisfactory answer, and was about to prosecute his journey, when the man thus abruptly addressed him:
“You’ve got a very nice hat, sir, which you must give me, or I will not stir another step.”
Under ordinary circumstances, to comply with such a request would have been inconvenient, but it was still more annoying in the present instance, exposed as the doctor was to a scorching sun. Finding himself, however, entirely at the man’s mercy, and seeing nothing but a howling wilderness all around him, he grudgingly gave the hat, hoping to be exempted from further importunity. But he was mistaken in this matter; for he had not proceeded much farther when the Hottentot sat himself quietly down on the sand, complaining bitterly of the immense distance they had yet to perform, adding, with a sly look at the doctor, that he thought his jacket would fit him exactly! The medical gentleman was amazed at the fellow’s impudence, and at first refused this new demand; but, as the man said that unless he received the garment he would leave him to his fate, he was obliged to comply.
In this manner he gradually divested the chicken-hearted doctor of his apparel, and would, in all probability, not have left him in possession of the shirt on his back had it not been for the timely arrival of Hans and another European, then on their way to Walfisch Bay. The doctor’s story was, of course, soon told, and the rascally Hottentot was not only deprived of his booty, but soundly thrashed into the bargain.
After having given the animals the necessary rest, we set out the next afternoon, about three o’clock, on the last stage for Scheppmansdorf. As the evening was starlight, we proceeded at a brisk pace till about midnight, when there suddenly arose from the sea a gloomy, bitter cold mist, which soon enveloped us in total darkness, and completely saturated every article of our dress. Unfortunately, in the early part of the night we had purposely left the wagon-track to save a very circuitous part of the road, and we had now nothing to guide us. Still, we toiled on as well as we could.