"Ice in the wilds of South Africa!" exclaimed Mrs. Roberts. "Who ever heard or dreamed of such a thing!"
"Yes, indeed," said Miss Boland, "this is the greatest surprise since we started from Walvisch Bay. I felt sure we would be received in princely style, but this is more than princely—it is royal; it is imperial!"
"Ladies, we drink to your very good health," said Jack, with all the grace of a master of ceremonies at a royal court. Bear in mind that he was clad in check shirt and trousers and a very shabby moleskin jacket, which was about the same as the dress of Harry and myself.
All the healths were drunk, and then we had more conversation. The coffee was brought, and Mrs. Roberts suggested that if we wished to smoke we were at liberty to do so, as the dining-room was well ventilated and smoke would be no inconvenience to them.
We thanked her and said that we did not care to smoke at that time, the usual period for our pipes being at the end of the day. After a while we adjourned from table, took a stroll outside the kraal, and managed to get fairly well acquainted all around. The ladies told us who they were, and gave us a sufficient amount of information about their families.
The afternoon wore on, and in due time Mrs. Roberts said they had better be returning to their camp. Their horses were ordered up; but before mounting they gave us a cordial invitation to visit them at home, and the day was named for our doing so. Then we helped them into their saddles—their manager and after-rider were already mounted—and away the quartet cantered in the direction of the sun, which was much more than half-way from the zenith to the horizon.
After our visitors had disappeared we discussed them briefly, and our talk was brought suddenly to an end by the arrival of one of our Kafirs, who reported a herd of gemsbok not more than a mile away to the southward. We agreed that it would be a good settler for our luncheon to take a run in their direction, and in a few minutes we were mounted on our horses and off in pursuit of the game.
We had a good run, and a successful one too, as each of the party brought down an animal without much delay. We managed to get on three sides of the herd, and in this way confused them, thus rendering our success comparatively easy. We got back to camp a little after sunset, and when we sat down to supper Jack remarked that he had not much appetite.
"Well, that's about the way with me," said Harry; "that luncheon was enough to spoil anybody's appetite for the rest of the day."
I had a similar confession to make, and we did not linger long over our suppers; but what we did enjoy was our smoke afterward, and we made amends for our deprivation during the day.