Every one looked jaded and worn out, as if with a long journey; and the dejected aspect of the masters was traceable even in their dogs, one of which went on in front with his head, down and tongue lolling out, aiming evidently at some particular point.
So surly were the leaders of the party that Mr Rogers made no further effort to be friendly, but sat with his sons looking-on, till the whole troop, extending several hundred yards, had filed by, under the cloud of dust shuffled up by the oxen’s feet; and then, as the little hunting-party rode on, they could see as it were a cloud go rolling slowly over the plain, the emigrant party being quite hidden by its folds, till the dreary dust-covered plain was passed.
“How are we to get at these rhinoceroses?” said Mr Rogers, as they rode homeward. “We must have one, boys; but I don’t want to have out the Zulus to track, for fear of their getting injured.”
“Perhaps we shall come across one, father, when we don’t expect it,” said Dick. “Let’s try to get a giraffe or two, and we may find a rhinoceros without hunting for it.”
“Very wisely said,” replied Mr Rogers; “perhaps we shall.”
Chapter Thirty Four.
How the Waggon was put Straight.
The remark made by Dick as he rode home with his father was much nearer fulfilment than he expected.