CHAPTERPAGE
I. An Inquisitive Landlord,[1]
II. African Treachery,[12]
III. A Disgusted Sportsman,[23]
IV. The Museum,[33]
V. Compliments and Orders,[44]
VI. An English Nimrod,[54]
VII. Off for Africa,[65]
VIII. An Incident of the Past,[77]
IX. Oscar Makes a New Acquaintance,[90]
X. A Baffled Swindler,[103]
XI. Oscar Completes his Outfit,[113]
XII. Oscar Sees a Chance to Get Even,[124]
XIII. How Oscar Got Even,[136]
XIV. Letters from Home,[148]
XV. A Good Shot and a Surprise,[158]
XVI. A Taste of Civilized Life,[167]
XVII. A Midnight Alarm,[177]
XVIII. Oscar Reaches his Hunting-Grounds,[187]
XIX. A Fight and a Retreat,[199]
XX. A Cowardly After-Rider,[210]
XXI. An African Concert,[221]
XXII. What McCann Did,[232]
XXIII. The Sentinel Koodoo,[244]
XXIV. The Battle in the Grove,[254]
XXV. More Specimens,[264]
XXVI. A Call from a Honey-Bird,[273]
XXVII. A Scrap of Evidence,[284]
XXVIII. Oscar Shows his Courage,[296]
XXIX. "The Charge of the Heavy Brigade",[306]
XXX. Oscar's Assistant Hunters,[315]
XXXI. Good-by, McCann,[325]
XXXII. Off for the Coast,[337]

OSCAR IN AFRICA.

CHAPTER I. AN INQUISITIVE LANDLORD.

"Who is he, anyhow? Where does he hail from, and what is he doing here?"

The speaker leaned over the little bar in the hotel at Maritzburg, and looked first at the landlord who stood behind it and then at half a dozen roughly dressed companions who were congregated in front of it.

These men were cattle-dealers and speculators. They made it a business to furnish oxen, wagons, supplies, and servants to hunters and travellers who were bound up the country.

They claimed a monopoly in this line, and the stranger who ignored them and exercised the right to purchase his outfit where he could do the best was sure to suffer at their hands in one way or another.