Well, he often was dispirited, and always lonely and homesick; but he stuck to his purpose with dogged determination, working faithfully every day and longing for the hour of his release.
It came at last, though long delayed, and it was with a feeling a little short of ecstatic that Oscar, one bright morning, ordered his men to inspan and strike out for Zurnst.
The minute instructions he had received from the committee, by which his movements had been governed during the whole of his stay in Africa, had been carried out to the very letter.
Every species of animal on the list which President Potter had given him was represented in his collection, either by a head or a whole specimen, and his time was up to a day.
"What more can they ask?" thought Oscar as, with a delicious feeling of relief, he took possession of his cot and watched his travel-worn cattle as they stepped briskly out over the blind trail—the trail his own wagon had made months before. "I've got everything they told me to get, and many things besides that they never thought of. I tell you, I have been through the mill since I passed along this route, headed the other way, but I have come out all right, and now, thank goodness, I am off for the coast and home! Treck along there, Thompson; the faster we travel the sooner we shall reach Maritzburg, you know."
Oscar stopped at his old camp long enough to off-load and give his wagon a good over-hauling, and then set out for Zurnst.
The acquaintances he had there made when he first came through had not forgotten him, but as they had received no word from him since he went away they had given him up for lost, and looked upon him as one risen from the dead. They listened in genuine astonishment to the stories of his adventures, and told him that he had done something that any old hunter might well be proud of. They denounced McCann's cowardice and treachery in the strongest terms, and promised to see to it that he did not impose upon any other traveller as he had imposed upon Oscar.
When he had reached Leichtberg Oscar mailed almost half a peck of letters which he had written at various times, and when he reached Mr. Lawrence's his heart was gladdened by the sight of almost as many more, addressed to himself, which had been forwarded to that gentleman's care by Mr. Donahue.
Oscar read these letters with no little anxiety. It was so long since he had heard from home, and so many things might have happened during that interval of silence!
But there was only one of them that contained any bad news, and that was from Sam Hynes, who, in a glowing obituary, which took up nearly a whole sheet of notepaper, conveyed to Oscar the news of Bugle's untimely death.