--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: beautiful granddaughter at his side…" description: "\"“beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a pair of faithful watchdogs. Although they were all nearly at the end of their tether, Jim rous..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg" --- # beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a… ![“beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a pair of faithful watchdogs. Although they were all nearly at the end of their tether, Jim roused the camp again before dawn. Using a span of oxen, and with much shouting and cracking of long whips, they heaved the overturned wagon back on to…” quote by Wilbur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg) > ““beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a pair of faithful watchdogs. Although they were all nearly at the end of their tether, Jim roused the camp again before dawn. Using a span of oxen, and with much shouting and cracking of long whips, they heaved the overturned wagon back on to its wheels. The robust vehicle had suffered little damage, and within a few hours they had repacked its scattered load. Jim knew that they must leave the battlefield at once. In the heat of the sun the corpses would very soon putrefy, and, with the stench of their rotting, sickness and disease would come. At his orders they inspanned every other wagon in the train. Then Smallboy and the other drivers fired the long whips and the oxen trundled the vehicles out of the gruesome laager and into the open grassland. They set up camp that evening among the deserted thatched huts of the Nguni town, surrounded by the vast herds of humpbacked cattle, with the piles of ivory securely enclosed within the wagon laager. The next morning, after breakfast, Jim summoned all his men to the indaba. He wanted to explain to them his future plans, and to tell them where he would lead them next. First he asked Tegwane to explain how the Nguni used their cattle to carry the ivory when they were on the march. ‘Tell us how they place the loads, and secure them to the backs of the animals,’ Jim ordered. ‘That I do not know,’ Tegwane admitted. ‘I have only watched their advance from afar.’ ‘Smallboy will be able to work out the harness for himself,’ Jim decided, ‘but it would have been better to use a method to which the cattle are accustomed.’ Then he turned to the small group of herd-boys and said, ‘Can you men’ – they liked to be called men and they had earned the right at the barricades – ‘can you men take care of so many?’ They considered the vast herds of cattle that were scattered down the full length of the valley. ‘They are not so very many,’ said the eldest, who was the spokesman. ‘We can herd many more than that,’ said another. ‘We have vanquished the Nguni in battle,’ squeaked Izeze, smallest and cheekiest of the boys, his voice not yet broken. ‘We can take care of their cattle, and their women also, when we capture them.”” [Wilbur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilbur-smith/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Jim leads his men to escape a doomed camp, using local knowledge and improvisation to protect their loot and avoid disease. **In simple terms:** He organizes a quick retreat, learning from locals and adapting plans. Key Takeaway Adapt quickly, use local insight. Themes leadership survival resourcefulness Mood determined resourceful Type strategic inspirational When to use this quote - military retreat - resource gathering - cross‑cultural cooperation Key Concepts logistics adaptation team dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How can leaders balance speed and thorough planning? - When should local expertise be trusted over own experience? A Different Perspective Relying on unfamiliar methods can cause delays or errors. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals Jim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals-jim-5344204/) [Future plans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-plans/) [Heat of the sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heat-of-the-sun/) [Nguni Battle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nguni-battle-5344201/) [Said Vanquished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-vanquished-5344203/) [Small Group](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/small-group/) [Vanquished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanquished/) [Vanquished Nguni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanquished-nguni-5344202/) ## Related quotes > [“I've recently noticed how often I find my characters on a tropical beach during some part of many of my stories. 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Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft-2/) [Browse all 187 Future plans quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-plans/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a pair of faithful watchdogs. Although they were all nearly at the end of their tether, Jim roused the camp again before dawn. Using a span of oxen, and with much shouting and cracking of long whips, they heaved the overturned wagon back on to its wheels. The robust vehicle had suffered little damage, and within a few hours they had repacked its scattered load. Jim knew that they must leave the battlefield at once. In the heat of the sun the corpses would very soon putrefy, and, with the stench of their rotting, sickness and disease would come. At his orders they inspanned every other wagon in the train. Then Smallboy and the other drivers fired the long whips and the oxen trundled the vehicles out of the gruesome laager and into the open grassland. They set up camp that evening among the deserted thatched huts of the Nguni town, surrounded by the vast herds of humpbacked cattle, with the piles of ivory securely enclosed within the wagon laager. The next morning, after breakfast, Jim summoned all his men to the indaba. He wanted to explain to them his future plans, and to tell them where he would lead them next. First he asked Tegwane to explain how the Nguni used their cattle to carry the ivory when they were on the march. ‘Tell us how they place the loads, and secure them to the backs of the animals,’ Jim ordered. ‘That I do not know,’ Tegwane admitted. ‘I have only watched their advance from afar.’ ‘Smallboy will be able to work out the harness for himself,’ Jim decided, ‘but it would have been better to use a method to which the cattle are accustomed.’ Then he turned to the small group of herd-boys and said, ‘Can you men’ – they liked to be called men and they had earned the right at the barricades – ‘can you men take care of so many?’ They considered the vast herds of cattle that were scattered down the full length of the valley. ‘They are not so very many,’ said the eldest, who was the spokesman. ‘We can herd many more than that,’ said another. ‘We have vanquished the Nguni in battle,’ squeaked Izeze, smallest and cheekiest of the boys, his voice not yet broken. ‘We can take care of their cattle, and their women also, when we capture them.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wilbur Smith" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilbur-smith/beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guarding-it-like-a-pair-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Future plans" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilbur-smith/beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guarding-it-like-a-pair-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/wilbur-smith-7617_future-plans_beautiful-granddaughter-at-his-side-guar_1471989.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“beautiful granddaughter at his side, guarding it like a pair of faithful watchdogs. 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