Through the Kalahari Desert. G.A. Farini
mind the camera,” I said. “If it had hit you, what a fix I should have been in, I couldn’t get another Lulu in this country, or any other.”
“Ah, well! never mind that. Just hold this while I take the camera off the stand. I think I’ve got
Climbing out of the Mine.
some splendid views, especially after the last shot, with all the dust and stuff in the air. In this strong light it ought to come out splendidly. It is the only picture of the kind, and was worth a leg—let alone a tripod—to secure.”
It was terribly hot, standing in that artificial crater, the sides of which reflected the burning rays of the red-hot mid-day sun. The “trucks” would not be run- ning for an hour, and lunch would be waiting for us before then; so there was nothing for it but to shoulder the camera and plate-holders and to scramble up the steep sides, following the tracks which the bare-footed Kaffirs had trodden in their journeys up and down.
“I’m frying!” exclaimed Lulu, as, half-way up, he threw himself on a rock. We shall be quite roasted before we get to the top.”
“But think of the pictures,” I replied, trying to look cool, though I confess to never having felt hotter outside a Turkish bath.
That night the waggon was finished, and brought round to the market square, and directly afterwards the message came that the mules had been newly shod, and were all waiting at the farm, with their driver “Jan.” Jan was a half-breed “boy,” formerly in the employment of Mr. Caldecott, from whom I “bought” him along with the mules. This “boy” was flat-nosed, bald-headed, round-shouldered, of the mature age of about forty-five, small of stature, with big brown eyes set in a wrinkled face, which was fringed with lanky, unkempt black hair. He was a native of St. Helena, and at a short distance so nearly resembled a European as to clearly indicate the existence of European blood in his veins. Everything
VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE DIAMOND MINE.
Page 44
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