The wide country was tenanted only by great herds of game that went thundering past like squadrons of cavalry, or here and there by coteries of vultures, hissing and fighting furiously over some dead buck.

And so at last the twilight gathered and found them alone in the wilderness.
"Well, what is to be done now ?" said John, pulling up his tired horse.
"It will be dark in half an hour." Jess slid from her saddle as she answered, "Get off and go to sleep, I suppose." She was quite right; there was absolutely nothing else that they could do; so John set to work and hobbled the horses, tying them together for further security, for it would be a dreadful thing if they were to stray.

By the time that this was done the twilight was deepening into night, and the two sat down to contemplate their surroundings with feelings akin to despair.

So far as the eye could reach there was nothing to be seen but a vast stretch of lonely plain, across which the night wind blew in dreary gusts, causing the green grass to ripple like the sea.

There was absolutely no shelter to be had, nor any object to break the monotony of the veldt, except two ant-heaps set about five paces apart.