"WHOSO DIGGETH A PIT..."
Next morning, just as day was breaking, Nathan and Koos Bester took
their departure from Namies. Koos had not slept at all during the
previous night. His face looked pinched and haggard, his hands trembled
so that he was hardly capable of buckling the straps of the harness.
The morning was as pellucid as a dew-drop and the dunes looked
preternaturally clear and distinct, the hollows being filled with
amber-tinted shadow. The track lay like a narrow, coiling ribbon over
the waste of plumy grass. The weird form of Bantom Berg arose gradually
before the travellers like a warning finger, indicating the vast
death-trap of which it is the centre, when, as the sun appeared above
the horizon, its shafts smote suddenly as though a furnace-door had been
suddenly opened. A short, hushing breath, as it were a gasp of
apprehension of the fiery terrors of the day, seemed to pass westward
over the Desert.
They reached a place called "Inkruip," and here it was decided to
outspan and rest the team. The name is a literal translation into Dutch
of a word in the Bushman tongue which means "creep in." A small stone
kopje stands here, and in its side is a narrow passage through which an
ordinary-sized man may just manage to force himself. A small chamber is
then reached, and from this another passage leads. Into this one can
only pass upon hands and knees. It rapidly gets narrower, and at length
dips suddenly at an angle of about forty-five degrees for some ten feet.
At the bottom is a little hollow, in which is always to be found a few
pannikinfuls of beautifully clear, fresh water, which is icy cold. It
takes, however, two people to obtain water at Inkruip, for the man who
descends the sloping shaft cannot get out again unless he is assisted by
some one who pulls him back by means of a reim tied round his feet.
The rocks on the western side of the little kopje still afforded a
slight protection from the blazing sunlight. The two men crept close
against a low, perpendicular ledge of rock, over which the rays of the
terrible sun were slowly encroaching. The sand was so hot that the
horses were unable to stand still, so they moved uneasily about in the
vain hope of easing their scorching feet.
"My, but ain't it just sultry!" said Nathan. He had managed to squeeze
his small body into a wedge of shade too small to accommodate the bulk
of the Boer, who was largely exposed to the sun-glare.
Koos murmured an unintelligible reply. Nathan, in spite of the heat,
felt in good form; he was determined to converse.
"My, but ain't it funny that a big, strong chap like you should have to
do just as I tell you, eh?"