"Are they good eating, Swinton?"
"Excellent."
"Turtle soup in the desert, that's something unexpected."
The Hottentots now set to work and discovered five or six more, which they brought out. They then tried in vain to get at the water in the deep cleft, but finding it impossible, the caravan continued its course.
"How much more of this desert have we to traverse," said Alexander, "before we come to the river?"
"I fear that we shall not arrive there before to-morrow night," said Swinton, "unless we travel on during the night, which I think will be the best plan; for fatiguing as it will be to the animals, they will be even more exhausted if they pass another day under the sun without water, and at night they will bear their work better. We gain nothing by stopping, as the longer they are on the journey, the more they will be exhausted."
"I am really fearful for the horses, they suffer so much."
"At night we will wash their mouths with a sponge full of water; we can spare so much for the poor creatures."
"In the deserts of Africa you have always one of three dangers to encounter," said Swinton; "wild men, wild beasts, and want of water."