"Which way did he go?"
The three natives pointed silently in the direction of Zurnst.
"Thompson," said Oscar, "put that antelope down in front of the wagon. Did either of you fellows get supper for me?"
Yes, there was a supper waiting for him, and it was a good one, too—the best he had eaten since leaving Zurnst. Oscar smiled when he sat down to it.
He knew that it was the result of the combined efforts of his driver and fore-loper, who had taken this way of showing their employer that they sympathized with him in the loss of his cook, and that they had not aided or abetted McCann in any way.
For several minutes they stood at a respectful distance, watching him, and waiting for him to get angry; but seeing that he sipped his coffee very contentedly, and showed no signs of flying into a passion over something he could not help, they finally withdrew to their own fire.
When Oscar had finished his supper he settled back in his camp-chair, folded his arms, and looked down at the ground in a brown study.
"So McCann has stolen a horse and gun, and cleared out, has he?" said he to himself after he had spent a few minutes in reviewing the situation. "Well, he has rendered himself liable to the law, which will snatch him bald-headed the moment he gets back to the settlements; but I can't stay here long enough to see justice done him, and so all the punishment he receives will be from me. He will not meet his friends again under a year and a half, and I hope to see mine before that time expires. He never went toward Zurnst, because he's too big a coward to travel so far by himself. He probably went in that direction, but he did it just to throw me off his trail. As soon as he was out of sight of the camp he made a circle around, and went off in pursuit of those Boers. I shall find him in their company to-morrow night. And when I do find him," added Oscar, while his eyes flashed, and his hands clenched involuntarily, "he must give up my property or fight. When I get my gun and horse back he can go where he pleases."
A visit to the rear of the wagon, where the horses were eating their evening's rations of mealies, revealed the fact that Little Gray was missing; and an inspection of his "battery" resulted in the discovery that his heavy single-barrelled rifle—his "elephant gun," as Captain Sterling called it—was gone.
The young hunter made no comments, but when he brought out his tools and went to work on the oryx there was an expression on his face that McCann would not have liked to have seen there.