Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

234 CARAVAN DAYSof a foot, to reach a satisfactory settlement, andHerbert went on with the horses to the farmabove.Very soon, as the evening approached, itbecame evident that we were encamped upon aspotof some moment to the inhabitants of thesurrounding country. For the little spring onthe bank beside us, which discharged through afragment of iron pipe into a broken trough below,had come, by reason of the drought, into a suddenglare of publicity and appreciation that it hadnever known before. That feeble trickle had tosupport dozens of households far and wide, whoseusual water supplies had been long exhausted.All the evening we watched the straggling chainof water-carriers moving up the hillside, and frommy kitchen, where (with the front open)I sat atthe stove, I looked down upon a changing sceneof quiet activity.It is admirable no doubt to be able to drawwater at will from a tap without stirring fromthe house, but perhaps we have lost somethingin sociability and the communal life, now thateach of us may sit at home alone, hugging hisprivate supply.For in old days a spring, whichfed a whole village, must have done much todraw people together, to give opportunity for