I now found it very difficult to keep up with the others, owing to my
feet being so bad. The heat was terrific, and, to make matters worse,
our precious water was almost finished. Early in the afternoon I found
that I was unable to continue at the same pace as the rest, so I told
them to go on. I would follow as best I could, I said, and if they
reached Swakopmund they could send back assistance. My own idea was
that it was better for one man to die than all four, as the others
could not be of any assistance to me by remaining. As they moved on
Franzen waved a cheery good-bye. "We will wait for you at Swakopmund,"
he shouted. I now took off my _veldt schoons_ to attend to my
blistered feet, and remained for a few hours resting until it got a bit
cooler. I divested myself of all superfluous articles, left two of my
water-bottles and the wirecutters behind, and walked on alone. By this
time I could distinctly see the waves beating upon the shore and soon
afterwards reached the beach, where I followed the coastline south.
Towards evening I sighted some buildings, which I thought were the
outskirts of Swakopmund. This gave me great encouragement, so I
continued as fast as circumstances would permit, and reached the
buildings after dark. To my disappointment I found only several
broken-down shanties, without any signs of life. I afterwards
discovered that this was a sealing station, and the name of the spot
Cape Cross. The buildings had been destroyed by the Germans, and the
people who worked there, being mostly British, were taken prisoners.
Cape Cross is ninety miles from Swakopmund, and had I known this fact
then I should probably have thrown up the sponge. My only thoughts at
the time were of our own pickets, whom I feared might shoot me. Several
times I fancied I heard the challenge, "Halt! Who goes there?" to which
I replied "Friend!" in a loud voice; but each time the only answer I
received was the mocking echo of my own voice. Presently I noticed a
tramline, which I followed for a mile or two, when suddenly I heard a
peculiar noise, resembling pigs grunting and lambs bleating. I went
in the direction of these animals, as I supposed, and suddenly found
myself right in the thick of a herd of seals, some of them much bigger
than myself, who started jumping all around me. I "cleared" for all I
was worth, as I had nothing to protect myself with. This must have been
about 11 p.m., and soon afterwards it began to rain heavily, so I dug a
hole behind a mound to protect myself from the piercing wind. It was
bitterly cold, and I was soaked to the skin in a very short space of
time. My bags were empty, and here were tons of life-giving water going
to waste, so I devised a plan to catch some of the precious liquid, by
cutting the side and top seams of my water-bags, spreading them out on
the sand, and then making an impression in the centre which formed a
cup-shape. When the rain ceased I got out of my burrow, and had a good
drink of the water which my sack had caught. This was the last fresh
water I had until the following Saturday afternoon.
Feeling miserably cold and weak, I moved stiffly on through the
darkness. At daybreak, to my concern, I found that I was nearly
surrounded by the sea, but the water on my left was not very deep. Here
I saw thousands of pelicans and other birds, so I looked for eggs,
but could not find any. Taking off my _schoons_, socks, and riding
pants, I waded across the water to dry land. Here I noticed a few wagon
tracks going north and south, so I decided to follow them, wherever
they led. After wandering along for some hours I saw some rocky ground
on my left and went towards it in search of fresh water. I found a
little in the crevices in the rocks, but unfortunately it was brackish.
However, I filled my remaining water-bottles, as it was better than
nothing, and continued on my journey along the sea coast until the heat
became unbearable. I then halted and took off my shirt, and with the
assistance of some large whale-bones, with which the beach was strewn,
and the remains of an old deck-chair which had been washed up on the
shore, I rigged up a shade and remained under it until it got cool,
when I again moved on. This time I walked until it got quite dark,
when I dug a hole in the sand behind a mound and got into it. By this
time my hopes of reaching Swakopmund had almost completely vanished,
and I wondered if I should ever wake again. I felt quite indifferent
to my fate; in fact, as I scooped out the hole, the thought occurred
to me that I was digging my own grave. After getting into it I saw two
wolves, or wild dogs--I don't know which--but they only looked at me
and trotted off. If they had attacked me I should have fallen an easy
victim.
I slept well that night, and did not awake until daybreak, when I again
got on the move. Several times during the day I must have been quite
delirious, for once I found myself sitting on a rock cleaning out the
salty sand from a hole, so that when it rained again the water there
would not be salty, and some poor traveller might get a drink! About
noon I crossed a riverbed, and found some more water, which was also
brackish. Later on I crossed yet another channel, which, I understand,
was the Amuroro River. There was a little vegetation here, but no
water. However, I found a large wild-fig tree laden with green figs, so
I thought I was in clover; but to my dismay found the inside of them
perfectly dry, and full of insects. I did manage to eat some of the
outside peel; then I lay down under the tree and slept for a couple of
hours. When I awoke I found four arrows quite close to me, and tied
them together with a piece of calico. Looking around the tree, I found
four more. They were all cleverly made, with feathers at the end, and
I took them with me and moved on.
I have no recollection of what happened during the night of that day,
but I must have been wandering on all the time. The following day I saw
a mountain away on my left, so I thought of going towards it, as there
might be a chance of getting water. I went about a mile, but finally
decided it was no good going any farther. I then commenced turning
up all the stones I could find, so that if it rained I might catch a
little water to drink. The fluid in my bottles was now getting putrid.
I had been taking a mouthful at a time, not allowing any to get down my
throat, as I feared that if I swallowed the awful stuff it would drive
me mad. I was now asking myself which was the best and easiest way of
putting an end to my misery; I had no hope of getting out alive.
I believe if it had not been for the valuable information which I
possessed, and which first prompted me to attempt to escape, I should
have committed suicide, but a reluctance to let my news die with me
kept me going. I now seemed to be having recurrent spasms of delirium,
for once I remember suddenly coming to my senses and finding I was
laughing. I imagined then my end was pretty near. It did not seem to
worry me; in fact, I felt a sort of happy feeling, and thought to
myself, "Well, I am going to meet my old friends who are dead."