The party travelled on all day, and came only at midday to a house, where they could obtain a little soaked mealies for their horses. All the other houses they had come to were deserted, as the families were still in the bush veld, and they had been unable to procure a mouthful of forage for their horses. They themselves were all right, for they had a good stock of provisions, but the poor brutes were starving.
After the feed of mealies, the horses put a little spurt on again during the afternoon, but soon the want of food again made itself felt.
The young men began to feel anxious. If the horses got no food, they could not pull the cart; and to remain stuck in such a black and uninhabited plain, with no shelter from the hot sun, would be decidedly unpleasant.
They had been directed to a farm where they would find good people at home, as well as forage for their horses and game for their guns, and were pushing on to reach this place. But on this bare, black plain many roads crossed and recrossed. It was a regular network of roads running from farm to farm. They became confused as to which road they should take and which leave. They soon realised the fact that they had lost their road, and were going at random. The danger now began to get serious. Their horses were dragging wearily along, and could scarcely keep up a semblance of a trot, and would soon give in altogether. The poor brutes had been in harness most of the day, and that on a mouthful of mealies only. But what could they do? They must keep on to reach shelter for themselves and food for the horses. Night is coming on; ’tis only twilight now, and twilight does not last longer than thirty or forty minutes here. Soon they will be unable to see the road, and will be forced to span out on this barren, inhospitable veld.
‘Hurrah! I see a light, and what is more, the dim outline of trees, and I do believe a house,’ cried Steve.
‘But where the dickens is the road?’ cried his cousin. The road seemed suddenly to disappear on the hard, unimpressionable soil. But all jumped down and went in search of a road.
Going a little forward, they discovered that they were by no means out of the difficulty yet. A river lay between them and the light, and what is more no _drift_ was visible. The banks were steep, and no cart could pass it, and a deep _zee koe gat_ (wallowing pools of sea-cows) occupied the whole visible stretch of the river. They ran up against the stream and soon came to what appeared to be a sort of _drift_. But what a _drift_.