After waiting awhile to see if anyone passed in or out, Otter undertook this task.

Going down on his hands and knees he crept up to the wall, then along it to the doorway, and after listening there awhile he lifted a corner of the hide curtain and peeped into the interior.

Presently he rose, saying: "All right, Baas, the place is empty." Then they both entered and examined the dwelling with curiosity.

It was rude enough.

The walls were unplastered, and the damp streamed down them; the floor was of trodden mud, and a hole in the roof served as a chimney; but, by way of compensation, the internal space was divided into two apartments, one of them a living room, and the other a sleeping chamber.