about midday
The return journey -- until its last stage -- was as uneventful as the outward one had been . For the first three days we met , on an average , half a dozen wagons a day , trekking to Port Elizabeth from various farms in the outlying districts ; but after that they became less numerous , and after the fifth day we met no more , nor did I call at any farms -- which , at that length from the Bay , were few and far between -- although we occasionally sighted one in the distance to the right or left of the track we were following . On the twentieth day after my departure from Bella Vista , about an hour after we had inspanned for the day 's trek , which was to end with our arrival home shortly before sunset , as we topped a slight rise the kopje or hill upon which the house stood swung into view for the first time since I had lost sight of it some three weeks earlier ; but it was still at such a distance that , with the house turning its shadowed face to me , I could not distinguish it with the naked eye , and it happened that upon that particular occasion I had forgotten to put into the voorkissie , or wagon chest , upon which the driver generally sits , the telescope that I usually carried with me upon such excursions . Nevertheless I knew that my people would be expecting my return on that day ; therefore , when we outspanned about midday , instead of lighting only one fire , for the purpose of cooking our midday meal , I caused three to be lighted , at a distance of about one hundred feet apart , which was my usual method of advertising my impending arrival , feeling sure that somebody about the house would be on the lookout , and would see the three sparks of flame and columns of smoke , we being by that time within some ten miles of the place . At this distance I was generally able , in clear weather , to distinguish the long , white front wall of the house standing out against the purple shadows of the Great Winter Berg range , but on this occasion I could not , although the day was as fine and the air as clear as usual at that time of the year . Yet , strangely enough , the circumstance did not strike me as being in the least peculiar or significant , although Piet , my after-rider , made some passing reference to it . Later on in the afternoon , however , when we had again inspanned , and had been trekking for about an hour , it began to dawn upon me that things were not quite as usual at Bella Vista .