After penetrating for about a mile of this shadow-land they crossed the belt of locusts, and found that the ground was ascending.
It was paved with water-worn smooth rocks between patches of yellow sand, and rose in a series of steppes. In the centre of this channel, the brook still ran purling and clear over its stony bed, with here and there small fringes of vegetation at its edges. All else, however, round and above them was sterile in the extreme. A deep silence brooded over this rocky valley, which, although at present in shadow, was intensely hot and airless. The sun glared on the upper half of one side, but the rocks in the bed still retained the heat where it had lately shone. As they walked, our heroes felt as if enclosed in a bakehouse.
They were winding round a corner, when suddenly Cocoeni and the other Kaffirs uttered cries of affright and rushed into the middle of the running stream, where they stood in a line, trembling. Ned and his chums at once promptly followed their example; then they asked—
“What is it, Cocoeni, that frightens you?”
“Look, baas, the bashikonay is coming!”
Chapter Twenty Five.
In the Defile.
“The bashikonay?” echoed Ned in astonishment. “What in the name of this wonderful country is that?”