about three
o'clock in the afternoon
Leaving the wagon , our spare horses , and the zebras in charge of Jan , the Hottentot driver , with strict injunctions that he was to take the utmost care of the captives , and treat them with the greatest kindness , Piet and I set out at daybreak -- the former mounted upon Punch , while I rode Prince as usual -- taking with us the elephant gun and my rifle , with a sufficiency of ammunition for each , and provisions for four days . The dogs Thunder and Juno accompanied us as a matter of course . We were on the right or southern bank of the mighty stream , and this we followed closely , mile after mile , anxiously scrutinising every foot of the turbid flood for signs indicative of a sand bar extensive enough to enable us to transport the wagon to the opposite bank ; but although we found no less than four shoals in the course of our first day 's search , three of them extended less than halfway across the river , while the fourth proved to be a quicksand in which we narrowly escaped losing both our horses , saving them at last only by the skin of our teeth and after nearly an hour 's hard and strenuous labour . This occurred about three o'clock in the afternoon , and when at length we were all once more safe on solid ground we were , horses as well as men , so utterly fagged out that there was nothing for it but to off-saddle for the remainder of the day in order to recover . A good night 's rest , however , completely restored us all , and enabled us to resume our search on the following morning . Our experiences on the morning of this day were simply a repetition of those of the previous day , except that , profiting by experience , we took care not to allow ourselves to be trapped in any more quicksands ; and I began to fear that our search was going to be a much more protracted one than I had anticipated . But shortly after midday we arrived at a spot where , on the opposite side of the river , another river , about a hundred yards wide , discharged into the main stream .