In these fitful encounters in the African wilderness men are always well met, and it needed no pressing from the new-found acquaintances to induce them to outspan together, and combine forces for Christmas cheer and Christmas chatter.
Mounting my horse, which stood by, I guided the cart out of the wood and down the slope beyond, till at length we came to our old outspan where I proposed to turn on to the wagon track which ran to Pilgrim's Rest.
All that day we blundered on, thrashing the weary cattle that at every halt tried to lie down, and by nightfall came to the outspan near to the house called the Temple, where we had met the Kaffirs returning from the diamond fields.
As it chanced I reached the town about eleven o'clock on this very morning of the 12th of April and, trekking to the Church Square, proceeded to outspan there, as was usual in the Seventies.
The night passed somehow without anything happening, and at dawn we halted for a while to water the oxen, which we did with buckets, and let them eat what grass they could reach from their yokes, since we did not dare to outspan them.
Two hundred yards from the outspan I came upon a clump of quagga and wounded one, which though mortally hit struggled on before falling.
At last, tired and disgusted with my want of success in not coming up with the object of my search, I shot an antelope, and returned rather earlier than usual to the waggons, which had been ordered to outspan under the range of hills.
On the 23rd the Commander-in-Chief took the field; leaving the base shortly after dawn, he carried out a driving movement which pushed the enemy back from the outspan at Nonidas to his posts much further into the desert.
The trek was done at a fierce pace till midnight, when an outspan was ordered; the party slept for four hours, and made Otjimbingwe just as the dawn of the 1st of May was breaking.
Wherefore for days they would outspan near a group of kraals, although of trade there was next to nothing done.
As they rode back to theiroutspan Fleetwood said: "He's beginning early.
I've had to drive the bullocks, and inspan and outspan all by myself.
Kaffir boys came from behind a rough shed, to whom he gave instructions to outspanthe oxen and drive them to the abundant pasture by the river side.
I began to think rather wistfully of the little tin hotel or thatched store I knew must be near, where we would outspan for the night.
A hundred grass ticks having at various times of outspan made convenient entry through open-work brown silk stockings, chewed at my ankles causing exquisite irritation not to be assuaged by a violent application of finger-nails.
What, outspan in this pitiless place, with not a house, or a tree, or water to be got at!
And then that stupid old Kafir and Jan over the outspan money, and our none of us being able to find any change.
Jan resents having to pay outspan money: he will wriggle out of it if he can," said Constance.
One might have thought Jan had never heard of outspan money, instead of its being a familiar and heating subject with him.
I didn't outspan in sight of his old hut, and he must have come sneaking around and seen us, and never said he would have money till it was too late.
The oxen gave out as we were coming down, and we had to outspan about five miles off.
I am sure, therefore, that he will not allow me to stay with your family longer than the one night we shall outspan at the farm, as we have had so many delays that he is in a hurry to push on.
When Boers are trekking, or travelling from one place to another, they outspan their waggons at night and put them end-on in the form of an oblong.
They outspan their waggons on the Church Square, camp out for a week with their wives and families, and do their shopping for the ensuing three months.
We inspanned before daylight, intending to make a long trek, and that evening to cross the Blood River and outspan for the night on the other side.
The outspan was hidden again by another rise in the ground.
You trek or outspan at your own sweet will, undeterred by any misgivings as to goods being delayed an inordinate time in delivery and the potential loss of future commissions in consequence.
On getting to our outspan near the drift, we came on the remains of three white people, who had been murdered here by rebels.
I shall outspan here, so that my oxen may rest in the shade of the gorge.
I came to it at a distance of about half a mile from the broken-down gate at the garden entrance, and ordered the others to outspan where they were, water the oxen, and turn them loose to graze.
At the firstoutspan from Barberton next day I saw him carving his mark on the handle, unabashed, under my very nose.
The hens usually laid their eggs in the coop because it was their home, but sometimes they would make nests in the bush at the outspan places.
At the outspan they stood about exhausted and panting, with rings and lines of brown marking where the moisture from nostrils, eyes and mouths had caught the dust and turned it into mud.
It was a long job skinning, cutting up, and packing the wildebeeste, and when we reached the outspan the waggons had already started and we had a long tramp before us to catch them.
At the outspan or on the road or footpath he shouldered them aside as one walks through standing corn, not aggressively but with the superb indifference of right and habit unquestioned.
Evening came and no outspan could yet be made, and it was now obvious that a second night must be spent without sleep.
The oxen had heavy labour all the time, and in many places we had to outspan oxen and, with their help, drag the wagons one after the other out of deep bogs.
We travelled all through the day and all through the night, with the exception of an outspanduring two hours from 11 to 1 p.
Gertrude and Helena accompanied their friend as far as the first outspan place, where a farewell libation of coffee was poured out from tin pannikins.
At each outspan Jacomina exercised all her faculties to shine as a cook.
Being on my way to Brother Sarel's I thought I would outspan here and get some medicine.
At every outspan place could be seen the remains of the fires lit by the fugitive.
At outspan time, which seemed to come earlier than usual, she descended to Roper's call, and slipped unassumingly into her place.
From his outspan the distance was too great for any but his own keen eyes to distinguish the little ramshackle farm.
Swartz had begun to outspan the horses, knee-haltering each so that they would not roam too far.
We trekked on over the same level plain, but as evening drew near the sky assumed a threatening aspect, and it was thought prudent to outspan and tie up in order to prepare for the reception of the impending storm.
When the boys would outspan and get things in readiness for meals, our hunger from the open-air life would be so great that we could scarcely wait while they made the fire for coffee.
Even if there were wood to be had on anoutspan place, there was always a race to procure the best poles.
Heron had decided to outspan where they were, under a big Dingaan apricot-tree, and the ladies were busy making plans for the disposal of cushions, wraps, and rugs to fend off the coming rain.
The Outspan Tales of South Africa By Sir Percy Fitzpatrick Published by William Heinemann, London.
He would like to outspan and stay where he was--the river was too full, and the next drift would be worse still.
The General added that it was his intention to march again in the afternoon in their direction, to have another outspan at dusk, and then to march all night and surprise them next morning.
At the midday halt he was better, and at the night outspan he was so well that he began to get aggressive again.
This he did, and before we reached the first outspan he had made himself decidedly unpopular; and he did not improve matters there.
Assuredly nothing could look more peaceful than the aspect of things as they pulled up at the mixture of store and wayside inn where they were to outspan after the first stage.
And now I will drive my waggons hence and outspan them outside the kraal.
The principle of the road is always outspan on the other side of a drift--that is, the opposite side from the one you arrive at.
But it was the time of the evening outspan that these two would enjoy most heartily.
Their outspanwas some three or four hundred yards distant from the kraal.
It's away on the flat there at the outspan just outside the town; any one'll tell you.
Then it is sometimes a good plan to outspan for a little while to rest your oxen, because they'll need all their strength for pulling through.
Towards sundown, the trader's outspan became alive with the lowing of cattle and the shout and whistle of those in charge.
About half a mile from the site of the outspan ran a spruit or watercourse, the bed of which, deep and yawning, now held but a tiny thread of water, trickling over its sandy bottom.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "outspan" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
